
Paintings
75 works

Here We Go Again, 2025
Oil on canvas
60 x 48 in 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Eric Stefanski's "Here We Go Again" presents the titular phrase rendered in his characteristic hand-painted typography, the words sprawling across the canvas with a weary familiarity that feels immediately recognizable. The text dominates the composition, each letter carrying the weight of repetition, of cycles returned to whether by choice or circumstance. Stefanski's brushwork maintains a deliberate imperfection—edges that soften and bleed, paint that pools and thins—transforming what could be sterile language into something deeply human and tactile. The emotional register here oscillates between exhaustion and dark humor, capturing that particular moment of resignation when patterns reassert themselves. There's an intimacy to the statement, as though the viewer has interrupted a private muttering, a sigh made visible. The scale of the work at sixty by forty-eight inches gives the phrase monumental presence, elevating an everyday exasperation to something worthy of contemplation. Within Stefanski's broader practice, "Here We Go Again" exemplifies his commitment to language as emotional residue—words stripped from their original contexts and reframed as portraits of feeling rather than communication. His text-based paintings function as mirrors, reflecting back the internal dialogues we carry but rarely speak aloud. The work sits comfortably among his explorations of vulnerability, frustration, and the quiet absurdities of being human, rendered with the same gestural warmth that has defined his output. For inquiries regarding the acquisition of "Here We Go Again," 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.