The paintings included were dark, erotic, stylistically primitive — very different from his current work, which is more representational and narrative. “I’m getting more confident,” says Sands, who now lives on the Lower East Side and is writing a memoir, set to be published in 2027. He’s also stepping away from beach paintings, several of which were included in a group show at Victoria Miro’s London flagship this past fall. While he remains interested in the human form, he’s moving beyond natural landscapes to explore built environments. One of his favorites, “All Day Duchess” (2025), depicts a woman in a bikini lying on the concrete ledge of a swimming pool. Behind her is a house reflected in the water, and in front of her sits a sculpted bust missing its nose. Unlike the lounging figures in his older pieces, she looks uncomfortable, posed on a hard and unforgiving surface. “How still can she be?” he asks of the woman. “How long could she have been there?”