Joe Shannon (born 1933)[1] is a stateside Puerto Rican artist, curator,[2] art critic, and writer.
He worked and exhibited most of his life based out of Washington, D.C., and currently lives in Glen Echo, Maryland.
The paintings often address strong sexual, mythological, and narrative themes, and issues of sex and race routinely dominate his exhibitions.
"[13][14] The Washington Post also stated that "Shannon is a masterful painter of the human figure.
"[5] Hilton Kramer, writing in New York Times, notes about Shannon and his artwork: “… But he is what he is, an artist of some independence and much energy and a furious talent who has declared his independence of everything current esthetic opinion has declared possible.”[15] The New York Times art critic Grace Glueck also observed that "Mr. Shannon's brisk way of painting his urban grotesqueries - he gets it all down like a born storyteller without too much fuss over how - belies their disturbing content.