Doubles as artist in abstract stage (9)

I believe the answer is:

geminates

'doubles' is the definition.
(geminating is a kind of doubling)

'artist in abstract stage' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'emin' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'abstract' is an anagram indicator.
'stage' with letters rearranged gives 'gates'.
'emin' inserted within 'gates' is 'GEMINATES'.

'as' acts as a link.

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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