A tribute to the “God of Neon” has been created in the “Shangri-la” he built as an escape on the Suffolk coast.
New Netflix series, Amazing Interiors, features Linda Bracey’s efforts to create a neon legacy for her artist husband Chris in their Thorpeness home.
Chris’s work in the “dark art of liquid fire” features in blockbuster films and the homes of celebrities including Kate Moss, Johnny Depp and Elton John. Some of his most famous pieces incorporate woodwork he rescued during the conversion of Ogilvie Hall, Thorpeness.
After Chris died in 2014, aged 59, Linda said she spent less time in Suffolk to focus on their London studio, God’s Own Junkyard.
“But I do hope to be spending more time here,” she told the show.
“My life is completely empty without Chris. I want it to feel like Chris is here.
“I want to create something in the interior that’s vibrant and that’s what Chris is all about.”
With the help of sons Matt and Marcus, as well as glass craftsman Nick, Linda set about transforming the Thorpeness property into a “neon extravaganza” in Chris’s memory.
She transported some of the most precious work from their London gallery and tasked Nick with creating a neon centre-piece based around one of Chris’s favourite sayings: “This is the strangest life I’ve ever known.”
Linda told the show that whenever she is around neon after Chris’s death, it feels like “the glow is his glow and it’s shining down on me and I feel warm and comforted.”
She said the project was difficult, emotionally, as it “evokes so many memories”.
After completing the transformation, Linda showed the new-look home to family and friends at a celebration held to mark the third anniversary of Chris’s death.
“I’m really happy with the final piece, it’s got everything that ties into what Chris was about with his neon,” she said.
“It looks fabulous, it’s got colour, it’s got life, it’s vibrant – I feel like Chris is here with me.
She added: “It’s like saying, he’s still around, he’s still in our lives and we will always remember him and his neon.
“He’s always going to be here, it’s like a legacy for Chris.
“I feel I can come to the house, be here, whether on my own or with family, and be totally at ease and comfortable.”
Before Chris’s death, he spoke to the EADT about his work, which he described as the “dark art of liquid fire”.
“I love neon, I almost consider it a living thing,” he said. “Neon loves the dark, it is like a beautiful woman, it wants to be looked at, it wants to be seen and it wants to be loved.”
Speaking about his “Shangri-la”, the home he built in Suffolk, he added: “All I ever wanted in the world was to live in a house on a dirt track looking out across the trees and so that was it for me, something I’ve wanted more than anything else in the world.
“It’s a fantastic village and all the local people are so friendly and nice.”
Watch Amazing Interiors, episode 11, on Netflix for more.
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