Capsule Art Reviews: "Devendra Banhart: Some Drawings," "Kirsten Hassenfeld: Dans la Lune," "Perspectives 158: Kelly Nipper," "Pompeo Batoni: Prince of Painters in Eighteenth-Century Rome," "Ryan Geiger: Secret Garden"

"Devendra Banhart: Some Drawings" Better known as a leading figure in independent music, Devendra Banhart is as much of an enigmatic storyteller on paper as he is in song. Ancient in language but contemporary in execution, "Some Drawings" reveals a surprising loneliness in its methodical intensity and repetitive themes. In controlled, intricate pen strokes, most of the works employ a hand motif: Banhart uses repeating little illustrations of hands — which almost resemble bear claws — to render larger images of birds and faces. Teeth, as well, make repeat appearances. The use of white-out provides an intriguing effect, like the naturally yellowed paper, usually blank pages torn from books, has been carefully bleached. Eight Deer Jaguar Claw contains monstrous heads, both beastly and humanoid. Wavy pen strokes add movement, causing the figures to tremble. Spirit of Six Point Cloud People, a representation of facial hair (but without a face), is mythologized somehow by the inclusion, again, of the hands. It becomes a kind of tribal emblem, like a tattoo — perhaps symbolizing the hirsute Banhart himself. Through December 15. DiverseWorks, 1117 East Fwy., 713-223-8346. — TS

"Kirsten Hassenfeld: Dans la Lune" Technically, Kirsten Hassenfeld's ornate sculptures are impressive and fascinating to the eye. Made of different types of paper and connected by paper chains, the six large-scale works resemble chandelier versions of Fabergé eggs, encrusted with crystalline obelisks and forms that look like uncut quartz. Elegantly lit from within, some pieces include a central 360-degree fanning paper accordion that forms a double-sided profile of a female face. Others contain little paper scenes, like a woman walking a miniature horse — a picture of wealth. There's an incredible fragility to this show; the environment is delicate to the nth degree, and you're watched like a hawk by a museum guard — as if these were the crown jewels. Hassenfeld is a kind of alchemist; she turns paper into riches. On view through December 9. Rice Gallery, 6100 Main, 713-348-6069. — TS

"Perspectives 158: Kelly Nipper" Los Angeles-based artist Kelly Nipper creates works that seem fixated on the recording process, or which use a recording element (audio, film and video) to explore time and spatial relationships (and probably not much else). For her stark exhibit, part of an ongoing series at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's Zilkha Gallery, the intimate confines of Nipper's images and video projections contrast nicely with the volume of gallery space between each piece. Love with the Sound Technician, a series of five nearly identical photographs, documents a hanging mobile made of wire and ice being recorded by two boom mikes in a recording studio. Could it be a statement on the entropic state of radio? Evergreen consists of four large color photographs of a green theater curtain. By the fourth photo, a sound technician has set up two microphones in front of it. According to Nipper, she had asked the sound guy to set the stage for the Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson duet "Evergreen" from A Star Is Born — it's a detail that, once known, might even manage to bolster the piece's banality. The only home run here is An Arrangement for the Architect and a Darkroom Timer, an hour-long video of two total strangers, one male and one female, standing less than a foot apart and facing each other. They don't speak, and it's hypnotic to watch the two attempt to dominate each other, leaning in and out, cushioned by the space between them. But at certain points, there's the sense that they're each thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?" Luckily, we have the luxury of simply stepping away. Through December 9. 5216 Montrose, 713-284-8250. — TS