Emil Sands b. 1998

Working in oil, Sands approaches painting with an instinctual drive. His rendering of light and reflection is defined by subtle chromatic shifts which he works and reworks repeatedly to create a sense of openness and physical breadth. Whereas recent works have focused on beach scenes or seascapes, where bodily freedoms are performed in a public arena, new paintings retreat into private realms. These formal settings, manicured spaces including gardens populated by classical statuary, bring a heightened psychological aspect. His environments often read as borderlands in which masculinity, vulnerability, humor, and unease coexist and circulate. The mood in many of Sands’ paintings is unsteady, like weather moving across terrain.

Emil Sands (born 1998 in London, currently living in New York) completed his Fine Art Foundation at Central Saint Martins, his BA and MPhil in Classics at the University of Cambridge, followed by the Henry Fellowship at Yale School of Art and Yale Creative Writing.

Solo exhibitions include Kasmin Gallery, New York; JO-HS, Mexico City; and Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York. Most recently his work has featured in the group exhibition The Stories We Tell: Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands, Khalif Tahir Thompson, held at Victoria Miro, London, November 2025 to January 2026.

Sands’ essay Struck on one Side, was published in the March 2023 edition of The Atlantic. He will publish his memoir I Am Not Achilles with Scribner (US) and Picador (UK) in 2027.