Damián Ortega likes making things, and relishes crafting objects out of clay. A show dedicated to the Mexican artist at the Fruitmarket Gallery (until 23 October) presents his experimental efforts with this earthy, organic material, from misshapen lumps that hang on vertical columns (Atmospheric Pressure, 2016) to glazed, painted mounds that rise from the ground (Icebergs, 2016). Abrasive Objects (2016), a collection of hand tools fabricated by Ortega, includes ancient Colombian corn-pounding implements and high-tech 21st-century tools.
In the age of social media, and the subsequent onslaught of the selfie phenomenon, it is sobering to see how artists have depicted themselves, warts n’all, over the past six centuries in Facing the World: Self-portraits Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (until 16 October). The opening section of the show includes piercing works such as Rembrandt’s craggy, discomforting self-portrait of 1657.
One of the festival’s most startling sights is Untitled, a distorted, disjointed sculpture by the Edinburgh-based artist Jonathan Owen. The work is located (until 28 August) within the Burns Monument, a neo-classical circular temple built in 1831. Owen has transformed a life-size, 19th-century figure of a nymph, by re-shaping its entire torso into a series of interlinked marble chains. The artist’s re-configuration raises questions about how and why we immortalise and idolise the female figure.
Three other must-see shows: Kenny Hunter, Reproductive! At Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (until 24 September); Hayley Tompkins at Jupiter Artland (until 25 September); Alice Neel, The Subject and Me at Talbot Rice Gallery (until 8 October).
