Guy Hepner Gallery

Eric Stefanski All We Need Is A Good Cry For Sale

Eric Stefanski
Eric Stefanski - All We Need Is A Good Cry, 2023, Oil pastel & charcoal on heavyweight paper

All We Need Is A Good Cry, 2023

Oil pastel & charcoal on heavyweight paper

11 x 14 in 27.9 x 35.5 cm

About this work

Eric Stefanski's "All We Need Is A Good Cry" presents the titular phrase rendered in oil pastel and charcoal on heavyweight paper, marking a textural departure from his signature acrylic-on-canvas works while maintaining his commitment to language as primary visual subject. The letters emerge with a softened, almost smudged quality inherent to the medium—charcoal's dusty blackness grounding the composition while oil pastel introduces subtle warmth and a waxy resistance that catches light differently than his typically matte painted surfaces. The intimate scale of eleven by fourteen inches draws viewers close, demanding the kind of proximity one might reserve for a whispered confession or a moment of shared vulnerability. Stefanski treats words not as decoration or commentary but as emotional artifacts, and here the phrase carries the weight of collective exhaustion and the quiet radical act of permitting release. The statement reads as both observation and invitation, acknowledging that catharsis remains one of the few uncommodified human experiences. Within his broader practice, this work on paper suggests a more immediate, diaristic impulse—the directness of pastel and charcoal allowing for a rawness that feels appropriately matched to the sentiment expressed. The piece sits comfortably within Stefanski's exploration of emotional residue, those feelings that linger after language has done its imperfect work of naming interior states. It speaks to exhaustion, permission, and the strange comfort found in surrendering to feeling rather than managing it. For acquisition inquiries, interested collectors may contact Guy Hepner gallery in New York.

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Edition & Provenance

Year
2023
Medium
Oil pastel & charcoal on heavyweight paper
All We Need Is A Good Cry

About Eric Stefanski

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.

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