In Emil Sands’s Paintings, Figures Move In and Out of Beachside Dreams
The New York-based artist’s new paintings of contemplative swimmers cause a stir at Victoria Miro gallery in London
Places have a special resonance for painter Emil Sands—besides the feeling of being grounded, he more often than not goes beyond a physical awareness of his surroundings to internalize the lingering feelings of his physicality. Bodies arise amidst these fleeting sensations as potentials of corporeality, each with its own complexities to unlock in an oil on linen painting. “I’ve always been very interested in looking at other people’s bodies,” Sands tells Galerie and adds, “not in a desirous way but instead I want to learn about their physicality.”
Living with a mild form of cerebral palsy has influenced the 27-year-old’s particular curiosity for how others carry themselves and express their corporeal agency. “I am just interested in learning how other people move through the space,” he adds. A handful of Sands’s new paintings are in Victoria Miro’s new three-artist exhibition “The Stories We Tell,” with Khalif Tahir Thompson and Tidawhitney Lek. Each artist’s own autobiographical journey anchors their practice, and in the paintings of Sands, (all 2025), inviting seas and infinite horizons lure bathers while the viewer switches between the positions of voyeurism and the gazed.
In Ripley’s Ladder, a sun-kissed cove is populated by swimmers engulfed in leisurely ambitions: some lay over the wet sand where the constant caressing of the shoreline is almost audible, while others are already half inside the crisp Mediterranean saltiness. The viewer feels positioned next to a young man who stares at the sea with a curiosity deprived to us. Sands paints him from the back, not unlike many of his subjects, who he renders with their gazes away from us. The New York-based artist admits relishing the idea of “withholding the direct gaze” of his figures, who in return radiate a sense of anticipation, most commonly the impending joy of plunging into the sea. The British-born artist’s lucid colors and controlled fluidity in his gestures nearly render the swimmers’ imminent breeze palpable. “The moment when something is about to happen, change is a charged moment,” explains Sands. He considers quick moments of “human exposure” laden with possibilities to grasp sensations difficult to decipher.
The Search shows a young person marching pensively towards the sea during a blaring sunset pierced by palm trees. Devoid of his facial expression and gaze, the viewer is granted with a rather plethora of potentials captured in Sands’ illustration of the open sea. “Freedom” is what the artist foremost finds in the moment right before the plunge and adds that he has had hard time grappling with wide open spaces due to his disability. “I didn’t always feel safe in such environments, but the liminal instant before going into the water is quite vulnerable.”
Aldo’s Dream holds an arresting dialogue between the painting’s subjects and the viewer. A young man who is indeed the artist’s own brother directly gazes at us with a sharp inquiry that melts into a gentle invitation. His two friends already have their feet inside the water while the main figure seems to invite us with them. “There is a careful balance between lulling the viewer and confronting them,” the artist says.
The show strikes a particularly cord for Sands for featuring his family members as subjects for the first time. “These are the bodies that I have known the longest in my life,” he says. Rising Skies shows his mother running towards the wavy sea with both arms wide open. Between a postcard-like dreaminess and introspective haze, the artist’s illustration of a humble joy feels grand and indelible.
Next is a solo show in January at Victoria Miro’s Venice outpost, featuring new paintings which Sands created during a residency this fall granted by the Londoner gallery at La Serenissima. The artist’s perpetual urge to watch bodies around him undeniably resonated differently in a city plunged in water. A dance between massive crowds and sudden exposures to immensely quiet alleys urged him to see bodies in a new lens. “I feel like I am in a dream here and water is a big part of it,” he says about his Venetian days. The water’s unparalleled medley with the land on the other hand has propelled Sands to discover uncharted feelings of anticipation for another encounter at every new corner, all to capture in painting.
The Stories We Tell is on view at Victoria Miro through January 17, 2026.