Department of Visual Arts

Part II of the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition “Too Much, Not Enough” opens FRIDAY 5/22 6-8PM • featuring Otis Boat, Maya Janine D’Costa, el n.k. lee, Zihan Qiu, and Hyeseul Song • Links in bio for more info & to RSVP • Presented by @DoVA_UChi and @LoganCenterExhibitions with the support of @UChicagoArts . • #OtisBoat @mayajaninedcosta @b4we_gather @zihanqiu_nr @songhyeseul

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for Part I of the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, “Too Much, Not Enough”. We were thrilled by the incredible turnout and thoughtful engagement with the work over the past two weeks but if you haven’t seen the show yet, it closes *TODAY* Saturday, May 16th. Congratulations to our first group of graduating MFA candidates: Jef Biesinger @jefbiesingerstudio Faye Yingfei Liang @faye_yingfeiliang Olivia Isabel Rosato @oliviarosato Kiana Shahnia @kniart Part II of “Too Much, Not Enough” featuring the final five artists of the cohort will open on Friday, May 22nd, 6–8pm. Presented by @DoVA_UChi and @LoganCenterExhibitions with the support of @UChicagoArts . Photos by @selfoto

Too Much, Not Enough Part I! Congratulations to Jef, Faye, Olivia and Kiana on this showing 🙌

Kiana Shahnia is an artist based in Chicago, Illinois, who works with installation-based oil on panel paintings that interrogate the politics of looking and destabilize structures of spectatorship. Her multi-panel paintings operate as objects that extend into the space of the audience, acting alongside them rather than as images presented before them. Through doubling and repetition, she constructs environments for unstable encounters where belonging and exclusion operate simultaneously, loosening hierarchies embedded in the act of seeing. Drawing from sites of nostalgic entertainment such as theatres and fairgrounds, her work mirrors the absurdities of the systems it critiques, exposing everyday mechanisms that disguise governance as satisfaction or preference. @kniart   == You can see Kiana’s thesis work in “Too Much, Not Enough I” opening on Friday, May 1st from 6-8PM. For more info on the exhibition and to RSVP for the reception, visit the link in bio. == Slide 1: Headshot of Kiana. Credit: Nathan Holder. Slide 2: Applesauce, 2026. oil paint on wood panel, 48 x 36 inches.  Slide 3: Headcount. 2026. oil paint on wood panels triptych, 71 x 48 inches each.  Slide 4: Open mouth, Laughing Belly, 2025. oil paint on wood panels triptych, 48 x 20 inches each. Slide 5: Backshot(s), 2026. Installation view.

Olivia Isabel Rosato is a visual artist based in Chicago, Illinois, working primarily in oil painting and drawing. She received her BA from UCLA in 2017 and relocated to Chicago in 2020. Her work draws from an archive of personal reference imagery, where atmosphere, light, and spatial tension intersect her subjectivity.  Shaped by a rhythm of entrances and exits existing in constructed space, the forms in her paintings and drawings hover between presence and absence, resisting full representation. She approaches image-making through reorientation, where time and perception remain contingent rather than fixed. Her work constructs psychological spaces that feel both familiar and unstable, inviting viewers to engage with what is sensed rather than fully seen. @oliviarosato == You can see Olivia’s thesis work in “Too Much, Not Enough I” opening on Friday, May 1st from 6-8PM. For more info on the exhibition and to RSVP for the reception, visit the link in bio. == Image 1: Studio portrait, 2026. Image credit: Nathan Holder Image 2: “Column” from Rising Action [series], 2026. Oil on YUPO, 28 x 5.5 inches. Image 3: Below, 2024. Oil on YUPO, 9 x 12 inches. Image credit: Bob. Image 4: “Site/Sight” from Rising Action [series], 2026. Oil on YUPO, 34 x 26 inches. Image 5-6: Am I the reliable narrator?, 2025. Charcoal on 2 sheets of paper, (L) 49 x 42 inches (R) 44 x 42 inches. Image 7-8: “Map” from Rising Action [series], 2026. India ink and oil on paper. Image 9-10: Shadow Play, 2024. Charcoal on 5 sheets of paper, 24 x 90 inches.

Faye Yingfei Liang is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores states of precarity, capturing the experience of living within liminal time and space. Trained as a photojournalist in mainland China, she developed a sustained interest in authoritarianism, social movements, and personal resilience—concerns she now translates into sculpture, performance, video, and social practice. Her latest project, An Ideal Home on the Ideal Land, centers on a fundamental longing for stability and belonging. The artist constructs miniature cardboard houses based on her vision of comfortable, affluent living conditions. Yet scenes of war and bloodshed encroach upon these fragile structures, rupturing the illusion she attempts to create. In her thesis exhibition, she will also present two social practice works, Building and Hug Drawing. Together, these projects pose a central question: are we merely components of a larger system, or do we have the capacity to enact change? @faye_yingfeiliang == You can see Faye’s thesis work in “Too Much, Not Enough I” opening on Friday, May 1st from 6-8PM. For more info on the exhibition and to RSVP for the reception, visit the link in bio. == photo 1: Faye in her studio photo 2: An Ideal Home on the Ideal Land, Room 3. Cardboard, paper, plastic, battery, led light, cup. photo 3: Air Crash Report, installation in midway studio. printer paper, ink, wire, tape. photo4: Air Crash Report, installation in Cochrane-woods Art center. printer paper, metal pipe, table, chair. photo 5: Hug Drawing, social practice. screenshot from video. film by Nathan Holder. photo 6: Dear Glove, installation. found glove, fishing line, push pin, wire.

Jef Biesinger is an artist whose work references his psychological and sensory landscape, as well as cultural myths, to create sculptural games. These sculptural systems are fictional situations that probe and map the sensing body and the thinking/perceiving mind. The situations propose a paradox of the psyche for characters to attempt crossing thresholds toward a transformation.  The work includes drawings that map narrative and form, sculptures made from cultural artifacts and fabricated materials, and videos that show the sculptures activated. Jef Biesinger earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the California College of the Arts (RIP) and practiced as an interior architect. @jefbiesingerstudio == You can see Jef’s thesis work in “Too Much, Not Enough I” opening on Friday, May 1st from 6-8PM. For more info on the exhibition and to RSVP for the reception, visit the link in bio. == Image 1: Studio portrait 2026. Image credit Nathan Holder. Image 2 : Untitled (Gravity), 2025. Wood, steel, latex, graphite, rope, 22x14x25”. Image 3: Listening, 2024. Paper clay, 10x11x5”. Image 4: Untitled (Psychoanalysis Arena), 2026. Multi-media. Dimensions vary. Image 5: Untitled (Psyche Activated), 2025.  (Performance documentation) Wood, steel, canvas, rubber, hardware, rope, clay, beeswax, charcoal, pastel, carving tools, resistance band, wand, wrestling gear, percussion instruments,  72x54x84”. Credits: The Umpire of Reality @itsmagical Psyche @karnerp Videographer @havefungomad Image 6: Untitled (Psyche Activated), 2025. Performance documentation. Image 7: Field Guide (RevErotic Berlin), 2025.  Paper, graphite, 12x9”. Image 8: Connecting Field (RevErotic Berlin), 2025. (Performance photo) Fabric, String, 12x12x36”. Credits: Performers @saliva_juice @hatho_material

SAVE THE DATES for the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions “Too Much, Not Enough” . 𝐈  featuring Jef Biesinger, Faye Yingfei Liang, Olivia Isabel Rosato, and Kiana Shahnia Friday 5/1 | 6-8PM 𝐈𝐈  featuring Otis Boat, Maya Janine D’Costa, el n.k. lee, Zihan Qiu, and Hyeseul Song Friday 5/22 | 6-8PM . Links in bio for more info & to RSVP . Presented by @DoVA_UChi and @LoganCenterExhibitions with the support of @UChicagoArts . . @jefbiesingerstudio @oboat @mayajaninedcosta @b4we_gather @faye_yingfeiliang @zihanqiu_nr @oliviarosato @kniart @songhyeseul

The 2026 BA Thesis Exhibition “still pouring” is still on view through April 19th • link in Bio for more info • Presented by @DoVA_UChi and @LoganCenterExhibitions with the support of @UChicagoArts at @Loganuchicago • @lucybulleystudio @Raquel.Kristine #AylaEichler @sofialiart_ @newwarmmountain @t.________.p . photos by @selfoto

Friends of DoVA—You are invited to join us next Monday, March 30 at 6pm in the Logan Center for the Arts, Room 901 for this year’s Deborah Goodman Davis and Gerald Davis Lecture with artist Walid Raad. In this artist talk, Walid Raad presents images, stories, and concepts from his three ongoing long-term projects: The Atlas Group (1989-2004); Scratching on Things I Could Disavow; and Sweet Talk: Beirut (Commissions). Raad’s focus remains on how extreme forms of violence affect bodies, minds, culture, art and tradition. Raad’s presentation will also engage the work of artist, writer and thinker Jalal Toufic, whose book, The Collected Writings (1991-2024) of a Mortal to Death was recently released by No Place Press. Established in 2018, through the generosity of Deborah Goodman Davis, the Deborah Goodman Davis and Gerald Davis Lecture Series brings vibrant voices to the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Arts and the greater university community. Free, open to the public, and in-person only. Photo: Shot with VW: Moderna Galicia (Ljubljana, Slovenia). ©WalidRaad

Opening Celebration—March 26 at 5pm in the CWAC Lounge (1st floor) CWAC Exhibitions is excited to announce Chat About’s first group show, 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴! Eleven artists confront the turbulence of a twenty-first century storm, distinct in its demands and challenges. As artists interpret issues like memory, environment, identity, and the collective unconscious, paired scholars contribute interpretive labels, together forming an interdisciplinary response to today’s challenges. 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴 showcases work by Jef Biesinger (MFA’26), Xing Raffaella Chen (MFA’27), Nathan Holder (MFA’27), Hannah Michelle Ivanov (MFA’27), Nikki Kelsay (MFA’27), el n.k. lee (MFA’26), Zihan Qiu (MFA’26), Olivia Isabel Rosato(MFA’26), Kiana Shahnia (MFA’26), Bradley Verhelle (AM’27), and Siwei Simon Xu (MFA’27). Labels featured in 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴 are written by Xiyue (Scarlet) Ding, Esme Graham, Molly Hurley (AM’26), Evan DaYu Ling (AM’26), Eric Liu, Anju Lukose-Scott (AB’26, AM'26), Frances Millar (AM’26), Emily Slavin (AM’26), Amanda Sukenick, John Xu, Henie Zhang, and Coco Zhou. The exhibition is curated by Faye Yingfei Liang (MFA'26), Frances Millar (AM’26), and Emily Slavin (AM’26). CWAC Exhibitions is organized by the Department of Art History’s Visual Resources Center. Additional support provided by the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, the Department of Visual Arts, and Marz Community Brewing Co. Installation support, preparation, and fabrication provided by the curators and artists, Noël Da, Libby Konjoyan, Evan DaYu Ling, and Bradley Verhelle. Special thanks to Jef Biesinger, Carl Fuldner, Erica Warren, and the Chat About Student Advisory Committee, Zac Jones AM’27 and Yanlin Zhu AM’27.

Save the date: Horizon Lines: Reimagining Potentiality opens Friday, January 23 at 5pm! Artist and curator Anju Lukose-Scott explores the horizon line as a marker of potential, a boundary between what is and what could be. Works by Zarouhie Abdalian, Frederick Bailie, Hai-Wen Lin, Nazafarin Lotfi, Anju Lukose-Scott, magicfeifei, and Anika Steppe and from the Joel Snyder Materials Collection challenge us to rethink not just the horizon line but boundaries and borders, time and space, the present and the future. January 23–February 27, 2026 Cochrane-Woods Art Center 5540 S. Greenwood Avenue Organized by the Department of Art History’s @uchicagovrc with additional support by @uchicagomaph , @dova_uchi , and @uchicagocarteasia . Special thanks to @process_process . CC: @anjumyrrol @hai_wen_lin @nazafarinlotfi @magicfeifei @anika_steppe