
Paintings
75 works

10 of Hearts, 2025
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 in 40.6 x 50.8 cm
Eric Stefanski's "10 of Hearts" presents a striking meditation on love, chance, and emotional accumulation. The canvas holds the titular phrase rendered in Stefanski's characteristic approach—words functioning not merely as language but as visual architecture, their letterforms carrying the weight of sentiment and memory. The composition balances the numeric and symbolic, evoking the playing card's associations with fortune, games of risk, and the vulnerable gambles inherent in human connection. Stefanski builds his surfaces with deliberate intention, allowing paint to gather and recede around each character. The text emerges from the canvas with a presence that feels both declarative and intimate, as though whispered and shouted simultaneously. Color choices anchor the emotional temperature of the work, while the physicality of the oil medium adds depth and luminosity that rewards sustained looking. There is a quietness to the piece despite its directness—a contemplative space where viewers can project their own histories onto the familiar phrase. Within Stefanski's broader practice, "10 of Hearts" continues his investigation of language as emotional vessel. His text-based works strip away pictorial distraction to confront what words hold beneath their surface meanings. The playing card reference introduces an element of chance and fate, suggesting that matters of the heart remain perpetually uncertain, always a deal of the cards. The work resonates with universal themes while maintaining the personal, almost confessional quality that distinguishes Stefanski's paintings. For inquiries regarding acquisition of "10 of Hearts," please contact Guy Hepner gallery in New York.


Eric Stefanski is a Chicago based artist known for large scale abstract paintings that incorporate bold, handwritten text. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2015.
Stefanski's work merges expressive mark making with direct, often humorous or self-deprecating phrases, using language as a way into larger themes around vulnerability, failure, and the pressures of maintaining a creative practice. His large-scale canvases favor vibrant color and bold lettering, with text functioning less as slogan and more as fragments of internal dialogue, blending humor with genuine emotional weight. Through this approach, Stefanski examines what it means to sustain a life as a working artist, treating uncertainty and contradiction as part of the process rather than something to resolve.
His work has been shown extensively in Chicago and Boston, along with solo exhibitions in cities including Tokyo and Madrid, and has continued to expand into galleries and institutions internationally.
He continues to live and work in Chicago.
Guy Hepner works with collectors seeking Eric Stefanski's bold, text-driven abstract paintings. Contact us to discuss available inventory or to inquire about upcoming releases.