Scotland hit by great wave of ocean-inspired art

I’ve often thought that somebody somewhere should curate an all-singing, all-dancing, centuries-spanning exhibition of Scottish sea art. Unsurprisingly for a nation with an 11,000-mile coastline (if you include all the islands), one where the nearest saltwater is never all that far away, the sea has tended to feature prominently in the work of many of our best-loved artists, from Alexander Nasmyth to William McTaggart, the Colourists, Joan Eardley, John Bellany, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Will Maclean, James Morrison, Frances Walker, Reinhard Behrens, Beth Robertson-Fiddes, David Cass… the list goes on and on. The logistics of pulling something like this together would no doubt be horrendous, but if some brave curator were to take on the challenge of assembling such an imaginary mega-show, now would be an excellent time to make a whistle-stop tour of the country looking for ideas; because – for the time being, at least – a great wave of ocean-inspired art seems to be engulfing galleries from Stockbridge to Stromness.

Detail from Raging Sea, Brittany, by Ross Ryan | Scottish Gallery / Courtesy of the artist

First stop: the Scottish Gallery on Dundas Street in Edinburgh, where Ross Ryan – the Crinan-based artist, sailor and surfer who famously enjoys painting in gale-force winds, with sand and seaweed hurled at his canvases sometimes becoming part of the finished works – has a new show titled Unleashed.

His last solo exhibition, From Crinan to Catterline, saw him making work on the titular journey around the Scottish coast on his boat Sgarbh, surfboards in tow for whenever the waves got good. For this new exhibition, he has made work further afield – in France and Ireland, as well as at home in Scotland – but his interest in the sea and all its moods remains undimmed. In Raging Sea, Brittany, all froth and foam, he shows his customary appreciation for the glorious chaos of a good hoolie, while in a note on the painting Carnage on the West, Iona, he writes, “I was lucky this work remained in one piece, so violent was the wind.”

Just as he’s able to capture the sea at its most ferocious, however, he’s also in tune with its quieter moods: Late Blue Light, North End, Iona, suggests a still, balmy evening, illuminated by low-angle light, while Crystal Clear, North End, Iona shows submerged rocks creating darker patches of water, making the water lying over sand nearby seem even more eye-poppingly turquoise. These are the kind of paintings that could only have been produced by someone who has spent a great deal of time studying the sea, and the longer you look, the more this deep understanding of it becomes evident.

Just across the road, the Open Eye Gallery is currently showing work by two more contemporary artists who have made studying the sea their life’s work: Chris Bushe and Janette Kerr. Bushe combines finely-observed horizons and paint-heavy semi-abstract foregrounds to atmospheric effect, sometimes giving a pleasing sense of movement, as if the sea is splashing around the rocks at your feet. Kerr, meanwhile, who has her studio on Shetland, is particularly good at depicting weather on an epic scale, often showing sea and sky coming together into one, angry entity, the land little more than an insubstantial sliver in between. (Also at the Open Eye: a room full of large-scale paintings by John Bellany, whose well-documented relationship with the sea hardly needs unpacking here, and who will be the subject of a major retrospective at Edinburgh City Art Centre from 31 May.)

Sounding Line, by Mella Shaw | JennyHarper

Down the hill and round the corner at the Graystone Gallery in Stockbridge, Ayr artist Kerry Souter has an exhibition titled Time & Tide, consisting of a series of expressive abstract paintings. On the whole, these seem anchored more in mood than in place, but titles like Surf on Stone and Between the Waves and the Winds leave little doubt as to the environment that inspired them. Exhibiting alongside is Catherine Sergeant, whose “Sea Circles” show words like “Hurlygush” and “Kelpie” emerging from what look like turbulent seas.

Elsewhere in Scotland, the ocean art bonanza continues. Edinburgh-based artist Mella Shaw’s exhibition Sounding Line is due to open at the McManus in Dundee today. Hoping to raise awareness of how man-made underwater sounds like sonar can harm whales, she has crafted a series of large clay sculptures inspired by the creatures’ ear bones. These are then wrapped in red ropes which vibrate with sonic pulses, and visitors are encouraged to touch the ropes in order to feel how whales experience sound.

Summer Night by Bet Low | Courtesy of Orkney Islands Council

Finally, at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Bet Low: An Island On Your Doorstep shows how the sea began to play an increasingly prominent role in her practice after she and her husband bought a house on Hoy, Orkney in the late 1960s. Low was a contemporary of Joan Eardley and Ian Hamilton Finlay at Glasgow School of Art; completely different styles, of course, but perhaps the three of them could share a room at the Big Sea Show, if it ever happens.

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Ross Ryan until 31 May; Chris Bushe and Janette Kerr until today; John Bellany at Open Eye and Edinburgh City Art Centre until September; Kerry Souter and Catherine Sergeant until 8 June; Mella Shaw until 18 January; Bet Low until 7 June

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