"Lisa Bick: Wax and Fire & Stephanie Mercado: Then, Here, Now" Two artists have shows, designated "solo," at Hooks-Epstein Gallery, one with a lighthearted approach, the other more serious. Stephanie Mercado's Adrift on Memory's Bliss has a man dreaming on a river while a tree sprouts from his chest, with the heads of six women in its branches, while a sailing sloop nestles high in the branches of a tree onshore. Inside Out has an air of mystery, and a highly successful contrast of blue flocked "wallpaper" with grays, as well as Mercado's trademark surrealism. The colorful The Game suggests the beginning of a high society orgy, and the black-and-white The Tea Party indicates the orgy is moving right along. If you enjoy wit and talent, Mercado is for you. Lisa Bick uses melted wax, resin and pigments, fused by a blowtorch, to provide an impression of antiquity, and has ambitious intentions, perhaps overly so. Sometimes there are schematas resembling architectural drawings as background. There is extensive use of browns, and even here some occasional humor. Fracking Pink shows the extraction not of natural gas but of the color pink from the ground. Where in the World Do I Go from Here includes detailed drawings of ancient maps, lines apparently drawn by a compass, and an enticing sense of layered depth. Acid Rose uses an architectural sketch for a garden as background, and the result is serene and highly satisfying. Varanasi is an ancient city on the Ganges river, and a painting with that title is the most colorful, with Bick's techniques softening the colors to provide grace and beauty. Through August 16. 2631 Colquitt, 713-522-0718, hooksepsteingalleries.com. — JJT

Marta Chilendron & Graciela Hasper: Dialogues The Sicardi Gallery has paired two artists, one born in Montevideo and the other in Buenos Aires, who share an interest in creating colorful, vibrant art, though they are not collaborators with each other. Graciela Hasper works with acrylics on canvas to create wall art, and Marta Chilendron uses colored, transparent acrylic to build flexible sculptures. A 2014 piece (Hasper doesn't title her art) has cascading, transparent planes of different colors, some square, some rectangular, along with cubes and rectangles. It has enormous power and energy, and seems orderly as well as chaotic. Another 2014 work has a variety of transparent colored squares, with those at the upper level smaller, conveying the impression that the squares are hurtling toward the viewer. The sensation of movement is vivid, and the energy palpable. Chilendron's Orange Circle 12 is composed of ten orange, transparent acrylic elements of various shapes hinged together and placed on the floor. The result is highly original, a novel architectural shape, like an alien's calling card. My favorite among Chilendron's works is also monochromatic, Spiral 7. The transparent blue elements are each the same size, so it can collapse into quite a small space, but it's shown here partly "unfurled," creating a sense of growth and energy. If it were fully opened, who knows what miracles might occur. Cube 12 Multicolor is 12"x12"x12", but can expand to an enormous width as desired; there were too many panels to count. 9 Trapezoids has transparent panels of various colors. Their rich variety suggests adventure and drama, with the purple panel promising passion — a full life. Through August 30. 1606 West Alabama, 713-529-1313, sicardi.com. — JJT

"Scott Rosenberg: Snail Trail" Scott Rosenberg's exhibition is lighthearted, buoyant and whimsical. I especially liked a severely damaged ceramic birdbath with a black bird bending down to be kissed by a bluebird a fraction of its size. The sculpture suggests neglect, decay and abandonment, and yet romance survives. What looks like "found" material is Rosenberg's way of having fun with us, as he carefully constructs many objects to look found, though they're created by him. I was certain an old-fashioned two-vane ceiling fan was "found" art, but it is ceramic made to look like metal. The most perplexing "art" is what looks like a mended blue tarp. It's not fabric, but Rosenberg's painstaking sketching made it look like fabric. One work centered in the gallery has a Pomeranian dog on grass, and Rosenberg has sewn material to look like grass. There are glazed stones as well, many of them, and the overall effect has a miniature, pastoral quality, as though this scene might occur on the balcony of a high-rise. There are a number of bowls, deliberately cracked or chipped, that are colorful and have interesting added elements. There's an elaborate ceramic basket that captures the magic of fairy tales, bursting with finely detailed objects. Another work is a multi-tiered sculpture with a human head on the bottom, looking unhappy, compelled to support all the weight. There are glazed ceramic pears with horseshoe nails as stems, easily affordable. Rosenberg's art is untitled, since his freewheeling style is too libertarian to tell us what to think. He eschews conventional beauty, but seeks to illuminate the ordinary. This is his first solo show with Zoya Tommy Contemporary, and a most enjoyable one it is. Through August 9. Tommy Zoya Contemporary, Suite F, 4411 Montrose, 713-523-7424, zoyatommy.com. — JJT