'Refraction,' one dictionary declares, 'is the deflection of light, heat, sound etc. as it passes obliquely from one medium to another'.
Something similar happens in the human mind at the boundary of earth and ocean. Remember that sudden quickening when you first saw the sea as a child? Remember the grown-ups' shrinking authority when you swam away? Remember the curving horizon?
Coasts provoke thought about limits and potential, agency and helplessness, the shaped and uncontrollable contexts of our lives. They have long been fertile territory for art, and this month's group exhibition at the Union Gallery – Shore Things – is no exception.
Over a dozen contemporary Scottish artists feature in the show, of whom just four are mentioned here to illustrate the interesting variety of styles and preoccupations on display.
Martyn McKenzie graduated from Edinburgh College of Art, Drawing and Painting only last year, but he is already a seasoned exhibitor here. His subtle depiction of tidal currents ('Bass Rock and Moon') drew praise earlier in the year, but his love of natural spectaculars is perhaps more typical. 'Shadowed Sea' (above right) features an almost Vesuvian column of cloud and rain. A headland or incoming wave dominates the left of the painting, whilst an enigmatic form in the distance – a ship? – offers either hope of rescue or a poignant vision of imminent destruction.
Three years ago (Breaking news, 11.10.10), this reviewer picked out Jackie Mitchell's brilliant acrylic 'Rhu Reflections I' for special praise. It's back, and I still love it. Less obviously attractive but in some ways more interesting is her 'Waterline IV' (below). This semi-abstract study considers the depth at which a vessel sits in the water, as marked by the differently coloured paints upon its hull. There are interesting metaphorical levels at work here in the interface of colour and media.
But there's also pathos. Step back from the painting and it seems that, after all, the water and the waterline don't coincide. The sea froths. The hull's askew. The ship heels to one side and already its gashed metalwork decays.
Henry Kondracki's work is an acquired taste. For me, its naivety sometimes grates. But he is absolutely no faux-enfant, and his observant sensibility consistently nails the adult truth. He finds and pins the detail of what it is to be an individual in social settings in a city scene.
In 'Ice Cream Van', absence is everything. Kondracki conveys a clientless business, newly rain-lashed, failing, at the edge of the world. There is an ocean of tuneless disappointment in the tiny wheels and lack of company. I loved the van's vanishing presence in the foreground puddle.
My favourite painting in the exhibition is Jackie Gardiner's 'Odyssey' – an epic, aerial view of an island cradled or engulfed by heavens and ocean. Human strength is tiny here, a mere hint of cultivation scratches the island's face. The title, the point of view, the vastness of wave and cloudrifts, and the expansive proportions of the work (114 x 90cms) combine to breathtaking effect.
Here is an Ionian Ithaca re-imagined for the northern eye: a fragile permanence amid Atlantic fishscale greys and blues and silvers and the hint of gold. AM
Shore Things continues at the Union Gallery (45 Broughton Street) until 30 April. If you have views about this article, or would like to review a show elsewhere in the Broughton area, contact us by email: spurtle@hotmail.co.uk Twitter: @theSpurtle Facebook: Broughton Spurtle