Alex Lipscomb
is a new york based designer. He is pursuing a BFA in graphic design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. His work explores his identity, culture, philosophy, and the overlaps inbetween as the world evolves.
He enjoys reading, music, film, and art.
The work is a scrolling video of various faces passing while videos overlay over the footage, the work is backed by music. 10ST is based in the screen test tradition popularized by Andy Warhol during the 60’s. The idea behind Warhol’s screen tests were an exercise in intimacy, but the ones in 10ST are never isolated, there is no silence, no solace, no break, everything happens for the length of the film. The secondary reference here, much less on the nose is Brakhage, with the quick clips of various scenes sometimes overlaid on top of the tests, are a clear attempt at abstraction of modern city scenes. The images are not as abstract as Brakhages’ but the rhythm of the film is similar to that of Dog Star Man. The work is about how society has changed since the days of Warhol and Brakhage, it is quicker, less personal, more portable, and much more overwhelming than those days. Everyone has a camera, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, and no one wants help. The world is a cold lonely place, its more hostile and expensive. 10ST looks at what brain rot Warhol would look like. The credits, uncut all of the screen tests playing simultaneously get at the intimacy felt by the original screen tests, but at the same time, there is an absence, the music plays on, and the film is still just as hard to focus on. 10ST feels at times like Nostalgia (1971) by Hollis Frampton, there is a disjointed nature, a jarring nature to the film, the things on the screen feel like they pass you by, it makes you confused about what to focus on what to remember. 10ST is a film of the internet, one that attempts to create an environment where everything is both unclear and overwhelming. 10ST takes the practices of Brakhage and Warhol and attempts to adapt them into the 21st century, one of social media, $10 burgers, and incels.2025
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