Commissioned work His portrait of
Diana, Princess of Wales was completed in 1996. His other commissions include
John Paul II, President
Ronald Reagan, President
Bill Clinton, and
Luciano Pavarotti. Other exhibition of Shanks' work at museums and galleries have included the
National Academy of Design; Hirschl & Adler Galleries; Coe Kerr and FAR Galleries in New York; Dayton Art Institute; the
Butler Institute of American Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Philadelphia Art Alliance; the
New Jersey State Museum; the National Gallery of Art; the
Philadelphia Museum of Art; Oklahoma University; the University of Pennsylvania; Temple University, Jefferson University,
Johns Hopkins University; the College of William and Mary; the Allentown Art Museum, the
Palmer Museum of Art; George Washington University; the University of the Arts; Oglethorpe University Museum; LaSalle University; the Royal Palace, Stockholm; Kensington Palace, London; and the historic Filoli Estate, California.
Portraiture Known for his skill in capturing the complex nature of his subjects, Shanks'
portraits have contributed to his reputation as one of the foremost contemporary figurative painters. In 2015, Shanks revealed that he had hidden a secret reference to the blue dress worn by
Monica Lewinsky in the official portrait of President Bill Clinton hanging in the National Portrait Gallery by way of a shadow. ==Teaching==