Visitors to the zoo won’t be the...

Visitors to the zoo won’t be the only ones to encounter a new breed of animal this summer. Two current gallery shows are offering tours through the animal kingdom, via the imaginations of several dozen artists.

“Horses!” at the Mary Moore Gallery (2173 Avenida de la Playa, La Jolla), features 20 artists’ variations on an equine theme, and “Bogus Beasts,” at the International Gallery (643 G St.), presents a broadly ranged glass, wood, paper, fabric and clay menagerie.

In “Horses!” (through Sept. 10), as in previous shows, the Mary Moore Gallery proves itself fickle, catering to both the academic, staid and traditional, as well as the adventurous, dynamic and challenging. An 18th-Century engraving by George Stubbs and several other illustrations of horses and jockeys represent the tradition-bound end of the show’s spectrum. At the other are a variety of images in which accuracy to visual fact is made secondary to imaginative, poetic expression.

Several artists in the show occupy a middle ground, successfully bridging faithful representation with depth of feeling. Susan Hertel’s oil painting and small gouaches picture horses and dogs as characters in a slow-moving drama, their communication silent and physical. In his bronze “Horse in Bondage,” Marc D’Ambrosi forcefully depicts the tension between taut muscles and restraining ties.

Patricia Powers’s “Decibels” is one of the most captivating images in the show, a huge (84 by 132 inches) equine equivalent of Edvard Munch’s immortal “Scream.” A horse’s head, in profile, occupies the entire canvas, and is tightly framed to accentuate the creature’s furious energy. Powers’ sensuous handling of the painted surface complements her subject’s raw vitality.

Marta Boutel’s “Knight Moves,” a vibrant monoprint featuring three chess pieces, introduces metaphor to the show, and Felipe Almada’s mixed-media work titled “What About If Everything Is a Personal Poem Between Visions of God in the Garden--Everything Is Here” takes us even deeper into a personal vision.

But Benjamin Serrano’s four works--one sculpture and three paintings--take the show to its most imaginative, engaging and satiric extreme. The Tijuana artist’s “Lady Godiva Rides the Pony Express to Deliver an X-Ray of a Man She Thinks She Loves” spoofs the character’s romantic glamour by showing her legendary golden locks bound in curlers, and her powerful white steed as a multicolored rocking horse. Another work, “Jesus Christ and the Butts of Love,” in acrylic and pencil on paper, mixes religious and sexual imagery with delicious irreverence. Serrano’s work sparkles with humor and poignancy, and provides the inspirational focus of the show.

Other artists included are Barbara Rieger, George Judson, Brian Thayne, Alexandra Whitney, John Dawson, Channing Peake, Oscar Melendez, Danielle Gallois, Eileen Whitaker, Christopher Pelley, Kevin Irvin and Madelyn Engle, whose shaped canvas works based on the Pegasus myth and other themes are also temporarily on view next door.

The International Gallery’s “Bogus Beasts” (through Sept.4) hasn’t the passion or intensity of “Horses!” but instead abounds in whimsy and light-hearted fun. From Bobbie Rush’s raku “Gorilla with Briefcase” to an array of anteater stools, cow towels, flamingo tables, puppy cups, snake bowls, swan pillows, and alas, piggy banks, the show comprises a fantasy zoo, where animals’ shapes, textures and colors roam free, unencumbered by the tenets of realism. Punning and silliness prevail in much of the work, such as Ron Carlson’s bedecked ceramic dog head, “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Fez,” and Dave Ferrin’s “Aerobigator,” an alligator in aerobics gear and posture.

Most of the 40 artists represented here anthropomorphize their subjects, blending animal and human attributes to effect a humorous hybrid. Some accomplish this with cleverness or charm, and some succumb to kitsch.

Overall, the high level of craft seen in most International Gallery shows falters a bit here, but is sustained by such works as Thomas Fontaine’s exquisitely delicate vessels, Eilene Sky’s “Cow Plate with Red Ribbons” and Ellen Fager’s clay teapots and plates, part of an adjacent “focus” exhibition called “Fish Out of Water.”

Fager’s aquatic creatures, rendered in subdued tones and minimal textures, are all poised in characteristic curving, slithering positions, as if just plucked from the sea, given bamboo handles and new functions. Their captive energy transforms the plates and teapots, normally considered static and mundane, into animated, decorative objects.