'III'

Playdead Studios

Southsea, UK

Last Friday night Play Dead launched the long awaited exhibition “III” from Nomad Clan

It soon became apparent why Nomad Clan had chosen to hold their first solo exhibition here. Set in South Sea, Portsmouth, the sea side town offers a fantastic creative hub for artists with an ever growing street art and creative community. Once you visit, you can’t help but fall in love with the place and the wonderful “South Sea folk”.

On the night, there was an air of excitement as a crowd of people gathered outside the gallery waiting for the doors to open. Whoops of appreciation filled the air as the curtains in the windows were dropped to reveal a peek of the artwork inside.

A mix of canvases and original sketches drawn in prep for their murals are beautifully displayed at the gallery, along with collaborative merchandise from Hord.co

One of the outstanding pieces “Sentient Beings” (painted at Upfest this year) is framed in engraved wood with exquisite nautical detail.
A favorite canvas of Street Art Atlas’s was “True Athena”. A darker and atmospheric portray of “Athena Rising”, the UK’s tallest mural painted by Nomad Clan in Leeds this year.

The exhibition takes us on a journey through the early days of Nomad Clan to current day, spanning 3 years from 2015 - 2017.

Cbloxx and Aylo originally started on different paths, Aylo’s focus was on on an illustrative style and lettering from a graffiti background, while Cbloxx worked with stencils for a time before moving to realism. The duo first painted together in Manchester back in 2014, realising that their styles complimented each others Nomad Clan was formed in 2015. They painted across London, secured paint sponsorship with Kobra paint and painted their largest mural of 2015 ‘The Nomad’ at The Tempest Building in Liverpool.

In 2016 Nomad Clan embarked on numerous projects, exhibitions and murals across London, Blackpool, Manchester and France. From painting murals, shipping containers and a beer launch with NORTHERN MONK BREW Co.
They somehow managed to find the time for a Kick starter Project ‘Art for Aid’ where they spent time in the Calais Jungle Refugee Camp helping to bring creativity and support to those affected by the conditions of the camp.

2017 has certainly been a busy year for the duo, painting in Berlin, Eindhoven, Sweden, Poland and Belfast.

The exhibition showcases their phenomenal talent and how over the last three years Nomad Clan have developed their own unique style together to work as one.
Each mural contains a story often focusing on the heritage and/or the issues effecting the specific area in which they are painting. With a mix of playfulness in their well thought out work, the seriousness of issues are slightly softened with detailed portraits of characters or animals that you warm to, eager to understand the story behind.

2018 is set to bring more striking work from Nomad Clan and without a doubt the next three years will be an exciting journey.

“III” opened at Play Dead, 131 Highland Road, South sea, on 17th November and runs to 17th January.