Emil Sands: Watchmen

3 Feb-7 Mar 2026

Overview

Victoria Miro is delighted to present Watchmen, an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Emil Sands. Completed during a recent residency with the gallery in Venice, the works on view continue the artist’s investigation into the relationship between viewer and subject while introducing new settings and an evolved psychological register. The exhibition is accompanied by new writing on the artist by Christopher Riopelle.

‘What is the relationship between flawed bodies and cultivated artifice? I am always interested in the dynamics of who gets to see what, and when.’ – Emil Sands

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, gesture and the ways in which we present ourselves, consciously or not, Sands paints a world rich with both classical allusion and contemporary engagement. His paintings are at once portraits and landscapes; mindful of the codes and orthodoxies of both genres, he plays with their conventions while addressing themes of vulnerability and exposure drawn from personal experience.

Press

Emil Sands: Watchmen press release
Download