When I was told about that exhibition – the ‘neon man”, I did not know whether my mate was making a joke or whether there was really something going on but still I had no idea what it could have been all about until I went on to the Spine TV website and find out about Chris Bracey and Bill Elwood: the neon men.

Or artists should I rather say because it takes some love, patience and talent to come up with such amazing and sometimes complex pieces of engineering. Chris Bracey and his fellow neon master – Bill Elwood have been making sign neons for over 35 years now and ‘it is not dying out’ Chris Bracey told ART-PIE

You could not miss the venue on Carnarby street where that exhibition was held up with all these lit neons and loud music which litteraly suck you in and there you had it : a giant playground for neons lovers or a nightmare for sufferers from photophobia (fear of light).

Split onto two floors, a multitude of shapes and colors are everywhere and not just some neons: Chris Bracey has worked with big names or big movies production such  ‘Judge Dredd’ or ‘Tomb Raider’ . Other remarkable pieces included a piece he worked in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick.

I had never been to such an exhibition and probably for good reason as this was Chris’s first ever exhibition of any sort! When you know that he has got the biggest collection (outside America) of neons – about 700 to 800 pieces, you cannot wait until his next show which he told ART-PIE should happen some time this summer and be held in a warehouse so yes bigger venue means bigger neons! Bring it on.

A pleasure for ART-PIE to shed some light (…) on a definitely not enough known or spoken art form which is neon making.

> Enjoy the pictures below of some of the neons Chris Bracey made throughout the past 35 years

> Check out the first ever ART-PIE video interview with an artist (at the bottom of this post). A big thank you to Warren Dell for his introduction and for being also the cameraman

> Head to Spine TV to watch the video in which Chris Bracey and Bill Elwood tell you how neons are made

ART-PIE