A few weeks ago I went to the opening of War Paint, an exhibition of art inspired by UNKLE's 2007 album War Stories, at the Lazarides Gallery in Soho. Music and art-world types alike piled into the small, crowded space, which was made all the more claustrophobic by the jet-black painted walls and red, blood-like exhibition title scrawled over the window, to catch a glimpse of the dark and eerie paintings by Robert Del Naja, which dominated the ground floor space.

Del Naja is best known as 3D, founder of the band Massive Attack who, as a long-standing collaborator and friend of Unkle's James Lavelle, has worked on the artwork for two of Unkle's past releases. As a street artist in the 1980s, and a member of the pioneering Wild Bunch crew, Del Naja is no stranger to demonstrating raw emotion and grit, whether it be through art or music, and this is made clear by his harrowing depictions of ghostly, skeletal figures that dominate the canvases. Many of the faceless figures look like they are taken straight from scenes of a war zone; dragging their scrawny, broken, shell-like bodies through an empty plane, while others are painted with halo-esque shapes around their heads, giving them an ethereal, otherworldly presence. Never before exhibited in a gallery, not only are these works visually arresting, but they complement the melancholic and pensive tone of Unkle's album, which is just as dark and brooding as the artwork.

Venturing upstairs, visitors are met with a further range of works by other artists, among them Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, a leading photographic duo who also work on a number of collaborations, including the creative direction for Alexander McQueen's S/S 2008 Paris fashion show; and Ben Drury, who has collaborated with UNKLE for over 16 years, and has in the past worked with the likes of Dizzee Rascal. Indeed, all of the artists involved have worked with Lavelle for a number of years, and there is a real sense of history and familiarity, with each artist interpreting the source material in a way that speaks of not only a friendship with Lavelle, but also a deep respect and understanding of what UNKLE is musically trying to achieve.