Domesticity

Gift Science Archive began as a performance aimed at making space in the home studio. Unlike many other artists who maintain a working space separate from their domestic space, Sands blurs those lines. In so doing, he draws on feminist praxis at the threshold between art and life — a threshold that is characterised by its domesticity. In the artist’s work, his home surrounds, as well as his familial and kinship networks, appear again and again, from the role of his husband ROBIN as photographer for many of his performance and performative projects, to the appearance of his mother, father and sister in early signature works. Outside of his own family, Sands also tracks the kin relations of key feminist artists like HANNAH WILKE or Eva Hesse in his work, as well as the conceptual framework that contours our contemporary understandings of art/life boundaries and domesticity itself.

Art as all that affective LABOR.
Life as that daily mark-making practice unfolding in DRAWINGS + SKETCHES. – MH.

Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00055-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-034
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 15 x 10
  • Materials
  • photo print and oil crayon
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

“Me and my dad (Ragen), showing him a drawing of “the prodigal son returns” from art school (Pratt). My dad makes art for himself, and for us. So did my great-grandmother. When it was necessary for everything to be called feminist art in the 70s for the movement, I was already familiar with women art. My examples were never people who were in the market, and it was never my intent.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00059-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-038
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 9 x 12.5
  • Materials
  • Color print and oil crayon
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

“Backyard in Kansas, sister (Laura) and dog (Zoe).” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00061-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-040
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 25 x 20.5
  • Materials
  • Black and white photo print and oil crayon
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

Self-printed. Photo of Sands mother (Marjorie) at the pancake restaurant in NY.

  • Reflection Notes

“Construction of your own history. What you remember and what you don’t remember. The history that I feel part of is abstract expression.” – SMW and AC.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00549-2009-PP-IntimacyAutonomyAfterJoanSemme…
  • Title
  • Intimacy-Autonomy, After Joan Semmel
  • Dimensions
  • Variable (40 x 60)
  • Materials
  • Digital image file
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Location: Sands and Robin’s apartment (Swammerdamstraat). Photographer: self-shot. Shown in an ‘off Pride’ festival in Zürich, Switzerland in 2009.

  • Reflection Notes

From 27. April 2020 (WeTransfer notes): “7 images including the cat (Betsie) on the bed and Robin and my body are an homage series to Joan Semmel’s work ‘Intimacy-Autonomy’ from 1974. She has never seen them (Joan) and probably never will.” – SMW. From 24. March 2020 (in email exchange): “here are the images too (just found them) which were printed fairly large and hung in sequence… i think there was only one image of our former cat Betsie in the sun… … then the Eva Hesse book on the floor and then the three nude images of us in the sun on the bed… … .i am going to start making domestic images again especially now that we are stuck inside! (but with sun, thank goddess!); https://artschaft.com/2018/09/... THIS IS THE JOAN SEMMEL PAINTING IMAGE FROM MY BIRTH YEAR ‘INTIMACY/AUTONOMY’ WHICH I ADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDORE AND WHICH WE ARE REFERRING TO IN THESE IMAGES :)” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00265-2001-PsW2000-MyMotherAndITalked
  • Title
  • My Mother And I Talked
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker and pen on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

Inventorying session + invited archivist (IA) meeting – 15.09.20. “My grandmother was an abstract expressionist painter, and she never exhibited her work in galleries, it was only for herself, and she only started painting when she was in her forties. This is the energy that I wanted to be part of.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00250-c2001-PsW2000-DOMESTICITY,SECURITY?
  • Title
  • DOMESTICITY, SECURITY?
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker and pen on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

Rijksakademie Internal Open Studios – 07.09.20. “Part of what I do is giving things away, which is why I don’t like the market-and why I haven’t been very successful.” – SMW. “Who does?” – Anon. “No one likes the market!” – SMW, AC and Anon.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 01443-2012-TP-EVAHESSESMOTHER
  • Title
  • EVA HESSE'S MOTHER
  • Dimensions
  • 62 x 55 (appx)
  • Materials
  • Pure silk and acrylic paint
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

The spiral form comes from a portrait of Eva Hesse by Mel Bochner from c. 1966.

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Image of Studio object

Photographer: Radna Rumping

  • Catalog No.
  • 01414-2020-MaPi-ConversationSandsAndRobin-004
  • Title
  • Conversation Sands and Robin
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • 5 phone snapshots
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Date: 24.07.20. Location: house Sands and Robin, Swammerdamstraat 4E, Amsterdam. Images taken right after a recorded conversation with Sands and Robin, featuring cat Duman, Robin and Sands on the couch, and self-portrait in mirror of Radna.

  • Reflection Notes

“Sands and Robin together on the couch, a few minutes after I stopped recording. A bit tired after talking for 2 hours and 20 minutes, but also excited and happy-it felt like everyone in the room knew this was an important conversation somehow. SMW and RWM surrounded by works they have been collecting, and a framed drawing from Sands on the left.” – RR.

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Image of Studio object

Photographer: Robin Wassink-Murray

  • Catalog No.
  • 00128-2009-PSP-BigPumpkinSeries-027
  • Title
  • Big Pumpkin Series
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • Live action
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Location: Moen Island, Denmark at Frederikke Hansen’s former house.

  • Reflection Notes

“I love my ass/hole but these are very specific parts of the body…” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 01477-2020-DN-WhyIAmArchiving
  • Title
  • Why am I archiving
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • Digital word document file
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Written by SMW on the occasion of the Rijks 150-year anniversary publication.

  • Reflection Notes

Inventorying session + invited archivist (IA) meeting – 15.09.20. “Did anybody ever ask you why you are archiving? Why bother? [… ] Why an archive? Why a painting, a sculpture? Why get up in the morning? Why breathe?” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

Photographer: Robin Wassink-Murray

  • Catalog No.
  • 02381-2019-FwPP-Carolee+Sands
  • Title
  • Carolee + Sands Magic Hair Pyramid & Working 2000 x 3
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • Construction in hand-carved, hand-gilded frame (triangle) and three framed signed works (rectangles) of photo collages printed from slides
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

“Above: Carolee had a knot in her hair. We were in her hotel room in Frankfurt where we met for her retrospective in 2017. She asked me if I could help to comb her hair and untangle the knot, and she insisted that Robin photograph it as a performance. Below: In 2000 in the first house that Robin and I shared together in Amsterdam, which was 19 square meters, I was on the phone arranging a purchase from Ronald Feldman Gallery of ‘Handle with Care,’ a work by Hannah Wilke. As Robin often does, he documented the action as a work.” – SMW.

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Listings connecting to the keyword “Domesticity” (676)

Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 02173-1995/1998-TwLd-SalesInShops
  • Title
  • Sales in shops
  • Dimensions
  • 29.5 x 21
  • Materials
  • Scented marker on A4 stationary
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

Like the horse drawings, the letterhead drawings are not always on letterhead, but share amongst them use of the handwritten text.

  • Reflection Notes

“I printed this stationary to use for my business, but never really used it for that. I used it to start making drawings on. My Mom had sent me fruit scented markers with animals printed on them, which I had used in my childhood. I used these to make the drawings, declarative statements to find my way.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00036-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-015
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 9 x 12.5
  • Materials
  • Color print and oil crayon
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

“Britney is timeless. She survived 2008.” – SMW and AC.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00068-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-047
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 29.5 x 21
  • Materials
  • Photocopy and oil crayon
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

“Performalist. It’s funny when your image becomes part of your work. Hannah did it because she was beautiful and that was troublesome for feminists, they thought it was easy, but it wasn’t. I’ve been objectified in different ways – my face not being good enough, always commenting on my weight (I think the unusual bits of me are part of what make me queer). Who makes them entitled to someone else’s physicality? Carolee always told me to go where the difficulty is, and that is (my) physicality. So, I made it central because people thought it was important somehow to draw my attention to. Sometimes I wish I could have been more handsome but then that was all I would’ve been known as. I can bridge the more and less beautiful.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00100-1993/1995-C-SignatureCollage-079
  • Title
  • Signature Collage
  • Dimensions
  • 12.5 x 20.5
  • Materials
  • Black and white photo print
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Technical Notes

Self-printed. Three versions in different opacities.

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Image of Studio object

Photographer: Robin Wassink-Murray

  • Catalog No.
  • 00132-2009-PSP-BigPumpkinSeries-031
  • Title
  • Big Pumpkin Series
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • Live action
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Location: Moen Island, Denmark at Frederikke Hansen’s former house.

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Image of Studio object

Photographer: Robin Wassink-Murray

  • Catalog No.
  • 00164-2009-PSP-BigPumpkinSeries-063
  • Title
  • Big Pumpkin Series
  • Dimensions
  • Variable
  • Materials
  • Live action
  • Object Location
  • Digital
  • Technical Notes

Location: Moen Island, Denmark at Frederikke Hansen’s former house.

  • Reflection Notes

“One of my favourite pictures is the one of you holding the shovel. It seems that you are claiming something-is that the case?” – AC. “There is this amazing picture of artist Hannah Wilke holding a broom in this fashion in her kitchen topless. I suppose I was trying to ape this image. I am not one for hard labor actually, I just want to be a big ball of energy kind of slip sliding around and thinking and feeling.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00196-c2000-PsW2000-YAWH
  • Title
  • YAWH
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Pen and poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

“God before God had a name. Before God was God.” – SMW with AC. “(…) It has nothing to do with religion, but spirituality. I was trying to see what these words meant to me.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00229-2000-PsW2000-EENSCHILDER
  • Title
  • EEN SCHILDER
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00266-2001-PsW2000-IAMAETHIEST
  • Title
  • I AM AETHIEST
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker and pen on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00298-c2001-PsW2000-UGLYsabotage
  • Title
  • UGLY sabotage
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

Inventorying session + invited archivist (IA) meeting – 15.09.20. “Tiny bits and pieces, this is what we are up against.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00332-2000-PsW2000-QUESTIONING
  • Title
  • QUESTIONING
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00364-c2001-PsW2000-AncientEgyptianEye
  • Title
  • Ancient Egyptian Eye
  • Dimensions
  • 50 x 70
  • Materials
  • Pencil and acrylic paint on shiny gold paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

Rijksakademie Internal Open Studios – 07.09.20. “To make symbols is like a release of energy.” […] – SMW. “In Hungarian kindergarten, as children, we didn't know how to read yet, they gave you a symbol. I had a poisonous mushroom, my brother had a food bowl. It was a symbol instead of a name as a way to communicate.” – Anon.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00396-c2002-PsW2000-BEINGWITHAPARTNER
  • Title
  • BEINGWITHAPARTNER
  • Dimensions
  • 30 x 42
  • Materials
  • Oil crayon on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

“As far as I’m concerned, everyone’s an artist.” – SMW. “I want to take the time and listen to all of your voices.” – AC.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 00450-2000-PsW2000-FEARLESS&SCAREDSHITLESS
  • Title
  • FEARLESS & SCARED SHITLESS
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

Rijksakademie Internal Open Studios – 07.09.20. “Does archiving sooth you? The fear or anxiety of losing something?” – Anon. “Not really. I like to give away.” – SMW.

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Image of Studio object

  • Catalog No.
  • 01248-c2000-PsW2000-DreamWorld
  • Title
  • Dream World
  • Dimensions
  • 42 x 59
  • Materials
  • Poster marker on paper
  • Object Location
  • Physical
  • Reflection Notes

SMW & AC inventorying session – 03.09.20. “Dream a little dream of me is my Carolee song.” – SMW. SMW & AC inventorying session – 24.09.20. “I was distracted by the dream of…” – SMW. “The story?” – AC. “Sex.” – SMW.

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