International Gallery (643 G St.) is offering...

International Gallery (643 G St.) is offering three new exhibits: “Afghanistan: A Paradise Lost,” which includes a variety of folk art; “Objects of Virtue,” works in clay by Byron Temple, and “Objects of Ritual,” works in silk by Carolyn Clark Bush. In addition, an earlier show, “Folk Traditions of Egypt and the Maghreb,” has been held over.

The Afghanistan folk art includes the wooden structure for a tent, called a yurt-- customarily covered with felted wool to provide shelter for nomadic tribes--that serves as a device to display a variety of objects, including rugs.

On view are silk prayer rugs, Uzbek embroidered and dyed clothing, horse covers, camel neckbands, Baluchi prayer rugs and tent bags, Jubal pillows, brass and copper household and religious objects, tent decorations, kilims (or weft-faced flat-woven rugs) and Kouchi jewelry.

An antique wooden door and a pillar from Nuristan are a spectacular entrance to the exhibit. An ikat chappan, a robe in shades of red and yellow, is one of the most beautiful garments on view, and a pale blue, pleated chadri, a garment for concealing the features and contours of a woman from head to toe, is one of the most mysterious, even sinister.

A small selection of works by New Jersey-based artist Byron Temple evince his sensitivity to and mastery of Japanese approaches to making objects in clay. His works are as beautiful and moving as those in any other medium.

Carolyn Bush’s kimonos and jackets of painted and dyed (batik) silk fabrics are contemporary expressions of traditional art forms. Long honored by other cultures, works of “wearable art” have only recently begun to be appreciated seriously by our own.

For these luxurious and seductive works, Bush has favored earth tones and some blues in nebulous forms suggested by patterns of fish scales. Two earlier works in bright colors reflect her interest in Hawaiian flowers. The shows run through May 17.

Old Town’s Circle Gallery (2501 San Diego Ave.) has a large exhibit of paintings and prints by Peter Max, who achieved fame in the psychedelic 1960s with his images of “cosmic surrealism.”

Max has, happily, continued to develop since then. His works at Circle Gallery do not look dated, but fresh and romantic in a contemporary idiom with high-key colors and spare lines. Instead of rainbows and space trippers, however, he gives us images of seductive women and other delights deftly, rather than painstakingly, executed.

What is strong about Max’s work is that it is distinctive in style and rarely directly derivative (well, occasionally) of other artists.

Max, who may have the highest name recognition of any artist in the United States today, has been honored with exhibit of his works throughout the Occidental world. He has designed a stamp for the U.S. Postal Service, designed welcoming murals for 135 border stations of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and in 1981 created an image for UNICEF on behalf of the United States. He has painted works for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and is active in efforts to restore the Statue of Liberty.

But if we look to great art for a kind of visual nourishment, for images and feelings that mysteriously feed our souls, then we must admit that Peter Max creates a kind of visual junk food. It gives us a quick rush but nothing sustaining. Still, who can resist it?

The exhibit continues through May 14.

The Mandeville Gallery on the University of California campus in San Diego houses a dazzling installation by Mexico City artist Humberto Spindola.

It is the shining orange facade of “La Casa del Alfenique,” an 18th-Century baroque house in Puebla, Mexico, replicated in hand-cut paper. The installation includes an interior view of a kitchen at Convent of Santa Rosa, also in Puebla. The piece, titled “Puebla,” is the first in a projected series of six facades of historic Mexican buildings that Spindola will create using paper for a total work to be called “La Plaza.”

The installation commemorates Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 1862), when native forces defeated the troops of French emperor Napoleon III at the city of Puebla de Los Angeles. The French had invaded the country to establish Maximilian, a scion of the royal Hapsburg family, as emperor. The Mexican victory was short-lived but, ultimately, so was Maximilian’s reign. The holiday continues to represent victory over foreign invaders, and was celebrated with a special performance on the exhibit’s opening night.

In the gallery’s initially empty space, performers dressed in gorgeous paper costumes, also made by Spindola, released the paper forms of the facade which unfolded like Roman shades from the ceiling for a theatrical spectacle. Visitors may view slides of the colorful performance.

Although the work, despite its brilliant color and rich patterning, does not sustain interest for a long period of time, it remains surprisingly fresh with repeated visits.

The exhibit continues through May 11.