Emil Sands
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AboutAldo's Dream, 2025
Emil Sands, a London-born painter and writer currently living in New York, explores the complex psychological territory between seeing and being seen. Through a focused exploration of physical form and the ways in which we present ourselves, Sands paints a world rich with classical allusion and contemporary engagement. His paintings are at once portraits and landscapes; mindful of the codes and orthodoxies of genres, he plays with their conventions while addressing themes of vulnerability and exposure drawn from personal experience.
Across Sands’ paintings, the figure is never incidental. Bodies are carefully positioned – offset, clustered or held apart; freighted with Sands’ acute awareness of the implications of gesture, posture and sightline. These compositional decisions generate subtle but persistent tensions: between individuals within a group, interior states and outward appearance, and the act of looking and being looked at.
As noted by Christopher Riopelle of the National Gallery, London, ‘Sands achieves a thrilling balance between the psychological intensity of his human relations and the placid equanimity of nature.’ -
Selected Works
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BiographyAldo's Dream, 2025
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.
The artist previously worked with Nicholas Olney and Eric Gleason on Salt in the throat at Kasmin (January–March 2025), an exhibition that introduced his work to a wider US audience. Solo exhibitions include 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, 14 November 2025–17 January 2026.
Sands’ essay Struck on one Side, which focused on his experience growing up with cerebral palsy, was published in the March 2023 edition of The Atlantic magazine. He will publish his memoir I Am Not Achilles with Scribner (US) and Picador (UK) in 2027. -
News
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Announcing representation of Emil Sands in partnership with Olney Gleason
January 27, 2026Victoria Miro is delighted to announce the representation of Emil Sands in partnership with Olney Gleason. Sands’ first solo exhibition with the gallery, Watchmen ,...Read More -
Emil Sands talks to Galerie Magazine about his works in The Stories We Tell
December 12, 2025'I’ve always been very interested in looking at other people’s bodies; not in a desirous way but instead I want to learn about their physicality.'Read More -
Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands and Khalif Tahir Thompson are featured in Plaster Magazine
November 26, 2025'The work of Sands, Lek, and Thompson... change how we see the little worlds in which we live, those little spheres of rooms and streets and sky.' – Matthew HolmanRead More -
The Artsy Vanguard 2026: Emil Sands
November 3, 2025The artist features in The Artsy Vanguard, highlighting the most promising artists working today.Read More
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Gallery Exhibitions
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Emil Sands: Watchmen
3 Feb – 7 Mar 2026 Miro Presents, VeniceNew paintings and works on paper by Emil Sands completed during a recent residency with the gallery in Venice.Learn More -
The Stories We Tell: Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands, Khalif Tahir Thompson
14 Nov 2025 – 17 Jan 2026 London Gallery II, Miro PresentsThe first significant introduction of three emerging artists, all born in the 1990s, to a London audience.Learn More
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Contact Form
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