Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone papers, circa 1860-2011, bulk 1940-2011

Named art projects and art series date from 1960s-2000s and consist primarily of Cosmos's conceptual art projects, often executed in the form of series that spanned decades. Most incorporated a wide variety of formats, such as photographs, photograph fragments, photocopies, writings, drawings, and sound and video recordings.

Documentation is found for his Reciprocol project that incorporated his photojournalist work. For this project Cosmos photographed figures—including John Cage, Meyer Schapiro, Robert Scull, and others—and then asked each of them to photograph him. There are several folders of Cosmos's work focusing on photographer Diane Arbus-two series composed of fragments of Arbus's discarded photographs transformed via mounting and sequencing onto blank pages.

Many of the art projects are represented by photographic documentation of Cosmos's conceptual performances, such as in Sheet Music, where he is seen tearing a white sheet outside Bloomingdale's during the 'white sale.' Other similar projects documented here include Camerakaze, Saved a Life, and Photo Arrest.

Cosmos's opera project, Vox Humana #3, about three heroines of history—Antigone, Joan of Arc, Patty Hearst— synthesizes a variety of media, including musical composition, stage direction, and video (Patty Hearst in Chains), into a four hour performance that was staged at La Mama in 1976 and The Kitchen in 1977.

Cosmos self-identified his Lecture Series as an art performance on his resume. Thus, the files are arranged here. Cosmos used photocopy extensively in his art, experimenting with tonality, collage, and the degeneration of images from repeated copying. Therefore, many of the files for the art projects and art series contain photocopies; some with descriptive labeling and annotations. For a few art projects, the photocopies are the sole source of documentation found within his papers.

Artwork compilations date from 1970s-2000s and consist of both original and photocopied "presentations" prepared by Cosmos to present to various people in the art world to whom he was close, including Milton Glaser and Ronald Feldman. It appears that the photocopied compilation was considered the final presentation.

The photocopied compilations were originally organized by Cosmos into binders and each one incorporates photocopies of photographs, drawings, printed materials, source materials, ephemera, and often pieces of his named art projects or art series. Many of the photocopies are also annotated or titled on the verso.

The originals for several of the photocopied compilations are also found here. They are comprised of the 4 x 6 photographs of the original compiled materials.

Drawings, illustrations, and a few paintings, collages, and sketchbooks by Cosmos are found here. The early work was completed while he was a student. The illustrations reflect his commercial work, and the drawings and sketches are from courses taken with Shelley Haven and Jeffrey Tolbert at Cooper Union. A few acrylic, watercolor, and ink wash paintings are found. One sketchbook is predominantly pencil copies of Picasso paintings, and the other two are comprised of abstract designs and compositions. There are also many photocopies of the artwork.

Artwork by others consists of an artist book, conceptual work, drawings, a sketchbook, and prints by Milton Glaser, Alex Hay, Douglas Huebler, Marvin Israel, Margaret Israel, Ray Johnson, Ellsworth Kelly, and Eve Sonneman. Also found here is artwork by children and unidentified artists.