The Coast starts in the heart of East Lothian
Jon Schueler in his Mallaig studio, 1973 © Jon Schueler Foundation
SUMMER, 1965, I'm in the Pieter Bruegel room at the Kunsthistoriches in Vienna, home to twelve masterpieces. My dad sets me a puzzle – find Icarus. It makes me look, closely and carefully. But it's a trick question. "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus", is actually in Brussels, probably a copy.
It's an allegory, for Bruegel was a master storyteller. Unseen, four Greek deities representing the elements: Apollo, Fire, Sun; Aeolus, Air, Wind, blowing the sailing ships towards shore, or, worse, rocks; Demeter, Earth and Agriculture; and Poseidon, Water, sea and storms.
It's such a peaceful scene, everyone minding their own business; ploughman, fisherman, shepherd, sailors. It only took a split second for Icarus' waxwings to melt as he flew too close to the sun, only to fall and be swallowed by the waves. Blink, and you'd miss him. They all did, except Bruegel, who glimpsed Icarus' floundering calves and, poignantly, a hand, not waving, but drowning.
Jennifer Alford © Tina Norris Photography
It inspired W H Auden's poem "Musé e des Beaux Arts", reflecting on humanity's unseeing, callous indifference for itself. And it's opposite – love, kindness and compassion.
Both mirror nature – bringing flood, fire or climate change, but also giving such bounty and beauty. In 1840, JMW Turner painted "The Slave Ship", a vivid, horrifying, terrifying depiction of the power of the elements, presaging a typhoon, boiling sea, setting sun throwing an eerie light on a ghostly ship, limbs and bodies, not waving, but… ... Like Bruegel, Turner is not just telling a story, but making a plea to humanity – Abolish Slavery Now!
Little could Bruegel or Turner have imagined that, come the twentieth century, men, artists even, would fly through clouds above Europe, dropping fire on enemies, earthbound or at sea.
Turner inspired Jon Schueler, navigating a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. His job? To steer his crew through sky, storms and flak, and get home safely, trusting instruments, experience, and fate. Unseen, below, destruction. Unseen, in his head, haunting memories. Flying, floating above the clouds, so solid, soft and comfortable, pure deception. Nothing but Nitrogen, Oxygen and Hydrogen to fall through, before…
Marian Leven in the studio© Tina Norris Photography
The trauma of war, and awe at the unpredictable power of the elements stayed with him. Painting became his lifeline, clouds and waves his subjects, confining, framing the ephemeral. Some challenge, unnatural even.
Discovering Mallaig after the war, Schueler kept on coming back, writing "When I speak of nature, I'm speaking of the sky. And when I think of the sky, I think of the sky over Mallaig." He depicted the eye of a storm, from inside the clouds, overwhelming, all-embracing, visibility zilch. On a dreich day, looking across the aptly named Sound of Sleat it's hard to tell the difference between land, sea and sky. Pure abstraction; no story here, just raw emotion.
Nature's nature is indifference, unconscious acceptance of being, myriad permutations and combinations of atoms. No death, just transformation. Only when cosmic dust becomes humanity are thought, consciousness, and imagination released, exposed, created, seeking right from wrong, truth and meaning. But also embodying cruelty, greed, a lust for power, wanton destruction.
Will Maclean in the studio© Tina Norris Photography
It takes vision, hurt, courage and passion to confront those traits, be it with direct action, words, art, or all three. Which brings me to "Coast", the exhibition currently on at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane, East Lothian.
Showing alongside Schueler are three contemporary artists, Will Maclean, Marian Leven and Dominique Cameron, and ceramicist Jennifer Alford. Maclean and Leven were introduced to Schueler by Richard Demarco, back in the 1970s. Both draw inspiration from Scotland's west coast, and its folklore, history and heritage.
Will Maclean, born in Inverness into a fishing family, made a detailed study of declining ring net fishing. His work includes assemblages using found objects, inspired by historical, literary and mythological aspects of Scottish seafaring history.
Together, he and Marian Leven have designed and installed monumental land sculptures including 'Na Dorsan' on the Isle of Lewis and 'Lorg Na Cò igich', above Acheninver in Ross. They mark key moments in Highland and Hebridean history, including the horror of the clearances, and commemorating determined women, speaking truth to power, to repulse eviction.
Marian Leven's painting is inspired by Scotland's changing landscape and seascape. Dominique Cameron's prolific image-making and multifaceted talents, are complemented by her website, words as well as work, carefully, poetically documented and described in a monthly diary.
Coastal connections are there, but there's no romanticism in, for example "Waterland 2025", a stark reminder that the sea has many facets, including being an industrial and commercial site.
Jennifer Alford's ceramic art draws inspiration from the colours, textures and rhythms of sea and littoral, informed by her musical training, using elemental glazes, and telling a story too.
A contemporary take on Bruegel's Icarus? Golfers above the cliffs, a combine harvester in barley. Cruise ships and super-yachts out at sea. An oil rig and windmills on the horizon. Bathers, kayakers, surfers. A town full of tourists. Some trying, like Icarus, to escape life's labyrinth. Others making a fast buck. Nobody notices the overloaded boat, refugees from war, sinking. Or smoke from burning forests. Nobody hears bells tolling warnings, tsunami approaching, climate change is here, wake up!
"Coast" until October 11, 2026. Fidra Fine Art, Gullane www.fidrafineart.co.uk/
