
Paintings
75 works

I Adore You, 2025
oil on canvas
84 x 60 in ; 213.4 x 152.4 cm
Eric Stefanski's "I Adore You" presents the titular phrase rendered in his characteristic hand-painted text, the words sprawling across the monumental canvas with an intimacy that belies its scale. The letters appear at once urgent and tender, their forms carrying the subtle imperfections of human touch—slight variations in stroke weight, edges that soften or sharpen with the pressure of the brush. Against the canvas ground, the declaration hovers between whisper and proclamation, transforming a private sentiment into something approaching monument. Stefanski's practice treats language as both image and artifact, excavating the emotional weight embedded in phrases we speak without thinking. In "I Adore You," the artist isolates words typically uttered in fleeting moments—across a pillow, into a phone, at a doorway before departure—and renders them permanent, demanding we sit with their full resonance. The work asks what happens when such declarations are slowed down, made physical, given the weight of oil and linen. The scale intensifies this confrontation; standing before the painting, viewers find themselves addressed directly, implicated in an exchange that feels simultaneously universal and achingly specific. Within Stefanski's broader body of work, "I Adore You" continues his exploration of emotional residue—the traces left behind by language once the speaker has gone. The piece functions as both record and offering, capturing the vulnerability inherent in adoration while monumentalizing its expression. For inquiries regarding acquisition of "I Adore You," 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.