
Paintings
75 works

I Finally Found You, 2025
Oil on canvas
60 x 48 in 152.4 x 121.9 cm
Eric Stefanski's "I Finally Found You" presents the titular phrase rendered in his characteristic hand-painted typography, the words functioning simultaneously as image and confession. The canvas, measuring a substantial 60 x 48 inches, gives the statement room to breathe while amplifying its intimate weight. Stefanski's brushwork carries the slight imperfections and human tremor that distinguish his text paintings from mechanical reproduction—each letter bears evidence of the hand, the moment, the body behind the declaration. The phrase itself operates in the territory Stefanski has made his own: the space where language becomes visceral, where words we've all thought or spoken are elevated to the status of monuments. "I Finally Found You" suggests arrival after searching, relief after longing, the exhale at the end of a journey whose length we can only imagine. The word "finally" does heavy lifting here, encoding all the time before this moment, the near-misses and wrong turns that preceded connection. Within Stefanski's broader practice, this work exemplifies his interest in emotional residue—the way certain phrases accumulate meaning through repetition across countless human experiences. These are not his words alone but borrowed utterances, universal yet deeply personal each time they're spoken. The painting asks viewers to locate their own "you," their own search, their own moment of finding. The scale invites contemplation rather than quick consumption, demanding that visitors sit with the sentiment and excavate their own associations. For inquiries regarding acquisition of "I Finally Found 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.