Vincent Glielmi Captures The Awkward But Beautiful Edges Of American Life

Glielmi focuses his lens on both staged and chance moments, capturing the beautiful absurdity of things on the periphery. A trolley floats, adrift in snow; a tree stands thrice split; a car, parked and empty, sits on an impossible ledge in the midst of a body of water. Glielmi photographs the awkward fringes, things that are uncomfortable and strange, but still familiar.

When considered as a collective noun, the title of the series refers to an action that happening now, or to a state that currently exists. Yet, when considered with the semi-colon that Glielmi has placed between the two words, the meaning of ‘Present; Tense’ shifts. Removed from the confines of a familiar term, tense comes to means tight, rigid, a sensation aligned with bodily anxiety or nervousness. Perhaps in reference to an awkward feeling that occurs in the present, on the edge, in all of the moments captured by Glielmi.