Educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and based in Philadelphia, PJ Smalley explores digital experiences and art history in his paintings. This Summer, Smalley has unveiled four new works – Young Love,” “The Static Age,” “A Cyber Stalk to Remember,” and “Space Invaders”- all part of the “Personal Shrines, Redefined” series. Each of the portraits is influenced by Facebook.

Smalley’s work will make up a portion of a group showing this September at Philadelphia’s Stupid Easy.

View the remainder of “Personal Shrines, Redefined” after the jump.

A native of Illinois, Fairfield Parish (1907-1975) spent a lifetime of summers along the Eastern seaboard. This portion of his life influenced his color palate, and the tone of paintings that would grant him status as one of America’s leading realists.

This summer, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery celebrates Parish through an exhibition of paintings completed between 1959 and 1975. The works include landscape, portrait, and still life paintings. It is the second exhibition of Parish at the gallery, the first coming in 1995. On view through August 13, 2010.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 24 West 57th Street, 7th floor, New York, NY.

A selection from among the twelve exhibited paintings follows.

Clayton Patterson: Pyramid Portaits, an exhibition of 44 glorious shots of tranvestite performers by the New York-based photographer, has been extended to August 5, 2010. The exhibition celebrates performers of the legendary 1980s Pyramid Club, including names like John Kelly and Tabboo!. In addition to extending the show, Esopus Space will release a limited-edition run of prints from the exhibition.

Esopus Space, 64 West Third Street, New York, NY.

More installation shots and a look at the prints after the jump.

Painter Patrick Palmer has completed five new works ahead of two forthcoming exhibitions. In July, he take part in People and Places at Gallery-of-the-Wall in Cardiff, Wales (July 4 to August 10, 2010). Next, he’ll show at Runneymead Gallery from August 4 to September 6, 2010.

The new work follows Palmer’s interest in the human form, balancing realism with a distinct element of draughtsmanship. Palmer studied in both London and Dublin. He also draws influence from Francis Bacon.

Full looks at the new works after the jump.

Melissa King recently kicked off a new self-portrait project – 365worldgirl.

The premise is simple enough, visitors to the site suggest a word and these form the basis for King’s portraits. Each week, King takes the words as they come (i.e. Week 1 = words 1 through 7) and employs them to set the scene. For example in week five, above, King worked from the following words – Amsterdam, insurmountable, snozzled, hubbub, twitchy, diaphanous, and meeting.

The results have, thus far, been fun. Take a moment to check King’s project out and add some of your words.

Shawn Barber’s show at Joshua Liner Gallery is fast approaching. In step, Arrested Motion chatted with the artist. It is a very informative and well paced interview. Highly recommended reading.

Above is a shot from Barber’s studio.

Neil Bedford, photographer and Bedford City Football Club supporter, has produced a fascinating series of fan portraits. Love for the club is a shared passion among all the sitters, who also all wear some version of a club tattoo. Many have “the City Gent,” a character developed in 1966 when several clubs looked to emulate the success of World Cup Willie, the mascot of that years World Cup. “The City Gent” became a popular tattoo among fans on the terraces in the 1970s. The color portraits complement a series of black and white terraces images that Bedford has also produced.

Learn more about Bedford at Fourteenfiftynine.com. (via Sang Bleu).

More examples follow.

In celebration of the World Cup, Puma commissioned a series of portraits of African footballers. The series, entitled Legends of Unity, will receive a brief New York showing at Deitch Projects (18 Wooster St, New York, NY) from February 18 to 20, 2010.

Complementing the paintings, Puma has also produced a short video. View that after the jump.

A busy week at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Coinciding with the opening of The LA case, the gallery also presents a selection of new material by Simon Birch. Birch hails from Brighton, England and is now based in Hong Kong. His large scale portraits mix figure painting with an element of abstraction.

Running from today through October 29, 2009. Carmichael is at 1257 N. La Brea, West Hollywood, CA.

View more of Birch’s portraiture after the jump.

Scion Installation 5: Self Portrait has been rolling along for nine months. The final stop opens this Saturday in LA at Scion’s own art space located at 3521 Helms Ave. In conjunction with the finale an online auction of selected works is running on ArtNet from opening day until September 30, 2009.