Eric Stefanski I Need You, I Want You For Sale

About this work

Eric Stefanski's "I Need You, I Want You" (2023) presents the titular phrase rendered in the artist's characteristic hand-painted typography, the words functioning simultaneously as declaration and confession. The composition centers on this urgent statement, its letters built up through deliberate brushwork that reveals the physical labor of transcription. Executed in oil on canvas at a commanding 48 x 60 inches, the work demands presence, transforming what might read as text message brevity into something monumental and unavoidable. The painting operates in the charged space between desire and dependence, where need and want blur into a single overwhelming impulse. Stefanski treats language as emotional archaeology, excavating the weight these common words carry when stripped of context and given material form. The surface holds evidence of process—visible strokes, subtle variations in density and saturation—that counters the flatness we associate with digital communication. What appears as simple text reveals itself as something painstakingly constructed, each letter a site of accumulated intention. Within Stefanski's broader practice, "I Need You, I Want You" exemplifies his ongoing investigation into how written language carries feeling long after the moment of utterance has passed. His text-based works function as preserved transmissions, capturing phrases that pulse with recognizable longing. The scale amplifies intimacy rather than diminishing it, making private sentiment public and confrontational. Viewers encounter their own experiences of articulating desire reflected back at them, the painting serving as mirror and vessel. For inquiries regarding acquisition of this work, please contact Guy Hepner gallery in New York.