Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Inc.

ArtHouston 2014: Lisa Bick, Stephanie Mercado

ArtHouston 2014

Hooks-Epstein Galleries, participating in ArtHouston 2014, will present 2 solo exhibitions featuring encaustic work by Lisa Bick and paintings by Stephanie Mercado. Lisa Bick’s, Wax and Fire, and Stephanie Mercado’s, Then, Here, Now, will open Saturday, July 12th, at 11:00 a.m. A reception for the artists will follow from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

In Wax and Fire, Lisa Bick uses a process known as encaustic for her work. Encaustic is a technique that involves melting beeswax, damar resin and pigment applied in thin, veil like layers. Color and textures are worked with brushes, hands, knives, scrapers and other tools. Each layer of wax is fused to the ones beneath with the fire of a blowtorch. Bick states, “I see my images as visual poetry and the exploration of the interplay of the senses layered with scrims of images and color.” She seeks to create images that resonate with history, as well as the modern; the rare and the common.

Lisa Bick received her B.A. in Studio Art with a concentration in textile and fiber arts, from Indiana University. She is a member of the International Encaustic Artists. Her work has been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the National Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM. Lisa Bick currently resides in Zionsville, IN.

Stephanie Mercado’s, Then, Here, Now, presents a new kind of history painting. Reminiscent of imagery found in historical European art, Mercado’s paintings and prints examine and interpret signifiers of wealth, class and identity construction, with a contemporary twist. Each image merges, juxtaposes and explores historical European imagery with contemporary pop-culture references that comprise the American Dream.

Stephanie Mercado received her B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from California State University in Long Beach, CA. She was also part of California State University’s, Drawing and Painting International Program. Her work was part of the Coronado Studios, Serie Print Project, in Austin, TX. Stephanie Mercado currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Lisa Bick’s, Wax and Fire, and Stephanie Mercado’s, Then, Here, Now, will continue through August 16, 2014.

For more images, please visit the full exhibition.