Details:
① Artwork:
Boys on the beach
In this painting, two men stand towards one another in swim shorts at a deserted beach. Their body language is casual, in the relaxed positions of familiarity. The composition is simple, and the palette is minimal. The focus is on the tenderness and awkwardness of each figure's physicality and how their bodies communicate familiarity. Sands often paints ordinary scenes between figures from memory, where facial features get muted or nonexistent.
Born with mild cerebral palsy, Emil Sands is obsessed with the body and its presentation in space. In his most recent work, he concentrates on vacation scenes, often at the lake or by the sea, as sites to explore interpersonal intimacy, bodies, vulnerability, and art's historical fascination with the human figure in all its shapes and sizes.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Born with mild cerebral palsy, Emil Sands is obsessed with the body and its presentation in space. What does the way one stands say about the individual? How does the curve of a back or tarnish on the skin create empathy or connection between the subject and viewer? In his most recent work, he has concentrated on vacation scenes, often at the lake or by the sea, as sites to explore interpersonal intimacy, bodies, vulnerability, and art's historical fascination with the human figure in all its shapes and sizes.
Emil Sands was born in 1998 in London, UK, and lives in New York, NY. He attended Central St. Martins Fine Art Painting Foundation (2017) and the University of Cambridge (2018-2022) with a BA in Classics and an MPhil in Ancient Art. He was awarded the Henry Fellowship (2022) to study Fine Art and Creative Writing at the Yale Schools of Art and School of Writing, respectively.
He has mounted solo exhibitions at JO-HS in Mexico City, Mexico (2024) and Tibor de Nagy in New York, NY (2023).
Sands has participated in recent group shows at Grimm Gallery in New York, NY (2024) and The Armory Show with Kasmin Gallery in New York, NY (2024).
His essay “Struck on One Side,” which focuses on his experience growing up with cerebral palsy, was published alongside his paintings in the March 2023 edition of The Atlantic magazine. He is extending the article into a memoir, to be published by Scribner in the US and Picador in the UK in 2026.
