Chris Bracey dead: Neon artist and designer dies, aged 59

The British artist and collector ran God's Own Junkyard in London

Chris Bracey has died, aged 59.

The neon artist and designer passed away in his sleep on Saturday, after having recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Wife Linda said that she had lost “a wonderful husband”.

“I am grateful for a long and loving marriage to a warm, talented, kind and funny man who has left the world a more colourful and vibrant place,” she said in a statement.

Bracey ran God’s Own Junkyard, a warehouse in Walthamstow, London, which housed one of the biggest collections of neon signs and sculptures outside the US.

A tweet from his account today read:

He started his career making signs for Soho’s sex shops, before going onto supply works for films such as Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Batman, starring Jack Nicholson. He was also commissioned by the V&A to work on its popular David Bowie Is exhibition in 2013.

A Bowie-inspired lightning bolt from Chris Bracey at the V&A

His celebrity collectors include Damien Hirst, Jude Law, Kate Moss, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Richard Curtis, Ray Winstone, Tim Burton, and Vivienne Westwood.

God Save The Queen: artwork by Chris Bracey

Last year, he staged his first solo exhibition, I've Looked Up to Heaven and Been Down to Hell, at Scream in London. His work is currently on show in Selfridges’ shop windows and above its main entrance on Oxford Street.

His wife said that their sons, Marcus, Matthew and Max, would continue running God’s Own Junkyard “as Chris planned and wanted”.