off season: a summer art issue

Off Season is a collection of visual art inspired by summer—not by the usual tropes of sun and sand, or of a favorite vacation destination, but by the idea of summer, a place our minds like to visit. Durga Chew-Bose writes: “Imagine if our foreheads had porches jutting out of them? Maybe our brains would experience some reprieve.” Amidst the ongoingness, summer can be just that, a porch for our tired minds. These paintings, photographs, and collages evoke this for us: a luxurious place for possibility—a raw chicken glistens, a bird dials a friend, plums stand in for friendly faces. Teeth mimic the ocean floor. There’s a sense of both newness and nostalgia here, pops of color and black and white, because what is this summer without the summers before? Sylvia Plath refers to late summer in her journals as “the odd uneven time.” We’re here to embrace it.

Select the image to view the work in more detail, including the artist’s statement and bio.