{"id":191314,"date":"2025-12-14T12:20:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/191314\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:20:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:20:17","slug":"in-emil-sandss-paintings-figures-move-in-and-out-of-beachside-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/191314\/","title":{"rendered":"In Emil Sands\u2019s Paintings, Figures Move In and Out of Beachside Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Places have a special resonance for painter Emil Sands\u2014besides 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. \u201cI\u2019ve always been very interested in looking at other people\u2019s bodies,\u201d Sands tells Galerie and adds, \u201cnot in a desirous way but instead I want to learn about their physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInstallation view of \u201cThe Stories We Tell: Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands, Khalif Tahir Thompson\u201d at Victoria Miro\u2019s Gallery II in London.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artists and Victoria Miro<\/p>\n

Living with a mild form of cerebral palsy has influenced the 27-year-old\u2019s particular curiosity for how others carry themselves and express their corporeal agency. \u201cI am just interested in learning how other people move through the space,\u201d he adds. A handful of Sands\u2019s new paintings are in Victoria Miro\u2019s new three-artist exhibition \u201cThe Stories We Tell<\/a>,\u201d with Khalif Tahir Thompson and Tidawhitney Lek. Each artist\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Painting<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRipley\u2019s Ladder, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

In Ripley\u2019s 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 \u201cwithholding the direct gaze\u201d 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\u2019s lucid colors and controlled fluidity in his gestures nearly render the swimmers\u2019 imminent breeze palpable. \u201cThe moment when something is about to happen, change is a charged moment,\u201d explains Sands. He considers quick moments of \u201chuman exposure\u201d laden with possibilities to grasp sensations difficult to decipher.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Two<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Search, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

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\u2019 illustration of the open sea. \u201cFreedom\u201d 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. \u201cI didn\u2019t always feel safe in such environments, but the liminal instant before going into the water is quite vulnerable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Three<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAldo\u2019s Dream, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

Aldo\u2019s Dream holds an arresting dialogue between the painting\u2019s subjects and the viewer. A young man who is indeed the artist\u2019s 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. \u201cThere is a careful balance between lulling the viewer and confronting them,\u201d the artist says.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Woman<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRising Skies, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

The show strikes a particularly cord for Sands for featuring his family members as subjects for the first time. \u201cThese are the bodies that I have known the longest in my life,\u201d 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\u2019s illustration of a humble joy feels grand and indelible.<\/p>\n

Next is a solo show in January at Victoria Miro\u2019s Venice outpost, featuring new paintings which Sands created during a residency this fall granted by the Londoner gallery at La Serenissima.\u00a0The artist\u2019s 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. \u201cI feel like I am in a dream here and water is a big part of it,\u201d he says about his Venetian days. The water\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Person<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInstallation view of The Search (2025).
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Contemporary<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmil Sand\u2019s Rising Skies (2025) is on view next to the works of Khalif Tahir Thompson and Tidawhitney Lek at Victoria Miro.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of the artists and Victoria Miro<\/p>\n

The Stories We Tell is on view at Victoria Miro through January 17, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Places have a special resonance for painter Emil Sands\u2014besides the feeling of being grounded, he more often than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[642,307,304,305,306,308,72310,93,61,60,10044],"class_list":{"0":"post-191314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-artists","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-emil-sands","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-paintings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}