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 that sit at the edge of 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’s photographs capture 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.