Jef Biesinger

LAST 24 hours to see Part I of the MFA Thesis Exhibition “Too Much, Not Enough” Psyche Activated 2 (Performance) 2026 Video 18:36 min Floor mat, body harnesses, steel, wood, fencing gear, game tool stand Credits Special Thanks to Bond Chapel, University of Chicago Performers The Artist - Nikki Kelsay @nikkikelsay_art Psyche (Trickster) - Otis Boat Meta - Jef biesinger Photography Nathan Holder @nateframes Costume Design Lisa Hasenbalg @dwell_better

Psyche Activated 2 2026 Black epoxy, steel, wood, tube, leather, hardware, bungee cord, body tape, ink, gesso, epee, bell, beeswax 108x48x72 #psycheactivated

Chamber 1 2026 Steel, clamps, body tape, latex, sand weight 48x36x72

Congratulations to this fabulous cohort of amazing artists (and curators)! @faye_yingfeiliang @oliviarosato @kniart MFA Thesis Exhibit 2026 Part 1 May 1-16 Part 2 May 22-June 7 #TooMuchNotEnough @logancenterexhibitions @dova_uchi

Come to the MFA Thesis Exhibit May 1-16 Uchicago Logan Center 915 E 60th St to see the post performance of Psyche Activated 2  2026 Video 18:36 min  Performers The Artist - @nikkikelsay_art Psyche (Trickster) - Otis Boat Meta - Jef Biesinger Credits Photography/video Nathan Holder @nateframes , Lisa Hasenbalg @dwell_better , Colleen Plumb @Plumb.colleen Costume Design - Lisa Hasenbalg @dwell_better

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

MFA Thesis Exhibit Too Much, Not Enough  (Group 1 Exhibit) May 1 - 16 Opening Reception May 1 The University of Chicago Logan Center Gallery 915 E 60th Street 
Chicago, IL 60637 Photo Credit @nateframes

Group Exhibition at UChicago CWAC Dept of Art History MFA/MAPH Chat About 2026 March 26 - April 17 Weathervanes, a group show spearheaded by Chat About, deals with the turbulence of a twenty-first-century storm. 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. Untitled (Sensorium Arena) Jef Biesinger’s mixed media artworks probe the eternal question of what it means to be in a sensing, feeling, thinking body, and to explore the systems that govern it. Implicit in his works are centuries of philosophy surrounding the qualities and hierarchy of the senses, dating as far back as Plato and Aristotle. Each project is a fictional reconstruction of an experience or belief, a composition of narrative, cultural reference, and sculptural installation. Often, they feature a sort of reciprocity, drawing from participatory engagement - in activating a sculpture by engaging with it bodily, you become activated by the work yourself. His influences come from everywhere - lived experiences, to popular media, to psychology, to scholarly theory - tethered in a deep and interconnected web, a rhizome. Despite being informed by a vast and intertextual network of sources, Biesinger’s drawing and sculptural works have a distinctly autodidactic quality - one that comes from his unique propensity to question, experiment, and heed intuition. His works, in their creation, presentation, and activation, invite both the body and the mind into new worlds of sensation. - Frances Millar, MAPH 2026 (Upper Floor) The Voices, 2025 Elastic band, wand (steel, rubber cap, ball, body tape), wood carving tool 36x24x3 (Landing Wall Left) Untitled (Connecting Field), 2025 Fabric, string, steel 12x48x12 (Landing Wall Center) Untitled (Threshold Ring), 2026 Steel, bungee cord, ball, body tape, leather, hardware 32x72x10 (Landing Wall Right) Seeking, 2025 Eyeglasses, hardware, mirror 8x5.5x2 Whisper, 2025 Paper clay 6x9x6

uchicago MFA OPEN STUDIOS meet the artists, see the process, tour the studios Saturday Nov 8th 6-9pm logan center, rooms 202, 204,209 915 E 60th St, Chicago photo by @plumb.colleen Looking forward to great conversations

Path of Stimuli 2025. Graphite and ink on paper. 9”x5.5”

Field Guide 2025. Graphite and ink on paper. 12”x5.5”

Path of Stimuli (Act 1 - Scene 3) Awaken 2025. Paper clay Whispering to activate a stimuli, release a mystery. Atmosphere - Berlin, Kreuzberg Riverside Playground Thank you @saliva_juice @hatho_material for your enthusiastic contribution to the activation of the narrative sculptures Cinematography Jef Biesinger