Installation (447 5th Ave.), the alternative art...

Installation (447 5th Ave.), the alternative art space now in its sixth year here, is offering “Fault Line,” an installation by Los Angeles artist Kharlene Boxenbaum, with music by Berlin composer Michael Hoenig.

Boxenbaum, intrigued by the similarities between natural and man-made changes in rural and urban environments, presents her perceptions in three forms.

On one wall are large color photographs of an earthquake fault running through the tall pines at Mammoth Lakes in the High Sierra. Although the giant fissure appears inert, it evinces the power of the earth that may become active at any time.

On the opposite wall, from floor to ceiling, is the artist’s multipartite rough and lyrical painting of the same scene. The narrowness of the space, with its height, creates an enveloping environment, complemented by Hoenig’s taped music.

On the back wall are photographs of a demolition site on New York’s 3rd Avenue. Beyond, in Installation’s back space, is Boxenbaum’s replication of that scene with rubble from torn-down buildings in the Gaslamp Quarter. Bricks, hunks of concrete and boards cover the floor. This vertical, man-made fissure strangely resembles nature’s horizontal one. The destruction is more immediate and palpable, but it is puny in comparison with nature’s quiescent potential.

Construction across the street is visible through the gallery’s front window. Through the door, street sounds intrude and blend with Hoenig’s impressive music. It is a thoughtful and effective work of art that stimulates the mind, the senses and the feelings.

The exhibit continues through Feb. 22.

The 11th annual juried “Small Image” exhibit, sponsored by the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park, is now on view in Studio 21. (Enter via Village Park Drive off Park Avenue.)

This year’s jurors, artists G.D. and Susan Durrant, distributed $1,500 in awards to 15 out of 150 participants (chosen from nearly 500 entrants). Works submitted could not exceed 10 inches in any dimension.

Several of San Diego’s finest artists were among the winners: Richard Allen Morris with heavily impastoed abstract paintings and a drawing, Barbara Rowland with skillfully made collages, Mario Uribe with works that exhibit the creative use of abrasion, Ron Williams with exceptional constructions.

One of Williams’ works is an engaging, albeit critical, commentary on the art world as a place of gamesmanship, superficial social activities and egregious toadying to those who can help one’s career. Inside the red door of the piece, Williams has written, “Art was here. It’s not anymore.”

Also worth seeking out in the crowded show are John Brodie’s “Small Deity,” Tom Driscoll’s sculptures, Tom Frankovich’s collages, Terry Tyler’s ceramic vessels, W. Haase Wojtyla’s paintings and Gary Kornmayer’s works.

With smallness of size comes reasonableness of price--and availability to a public that may have little disposable cash and space.

The “Small Image” show is a worthwhile event. It continues through Feb. 28.

International Gallery (643 G. St.), which specializes in folk and primitive art, naive art and contemporary crafts, has recently opened an exhibit featuring folk arts of Egypt and the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia).

The show, designed by gallery director Stephen Ross, fills the large space colorfully and festively.

Woven works--wall-hangings, rugs and garments--in earth tones and geometric patterns predominate.

Of special interest are Moroccan “crazy” rugs. According to the tale, when when women rug weavers get tired of making traditional, geometrically regular patterns they smoke a little hashish. In the euphoric state that it induces, they weave rugs that appear contemporary and western in design.

Also on view at International Gallery is the first show in a new “Focus Exhibition Series.” Featured are new works in paper by San Diego artist Martha Chatelain. Five embossed, folded, vertical forms, as an ensemble entitled “Prism,” present the full color spectrum. An additional multipartite work in flower- or bird-like forms is pristinely white.

The gallery has scheduled a number of special events in conjunction with both exhibits, which continue through March 16.