Guy Hepner Gallery

Eric Stefanski I'm Still Here For Sale

Eric Stefanski
Eric Stefanski - I'm Still Here, 2024, Neon installation

I'm Still Here, 2024

Neon installation

36 x 24 in 91.4 x 61 cm

About this work

Eric Stefanski's "I'm Still Here" presents the titular phrase rendered in luminous neon, a striking departure from the artist's signature painted text works while maintaining his deep engagement with language as emotional artifact. The words glow against their surroundings with an insistent presence, their light both warm and slightly confrontational—a declaration that refuses to be overlooked or dismissed. The piece measures 36 x 24 inches, a scale intimate enough to feel like a personal address yet substantial enough to command attention in any space. The statement itself carries layered resonance: defiance, survival, vulnerability, and quiet triumph converge in three simple words. Stefanski has long explored how text becomes a vessel for feeling, and here the neon medium amplifies that investigation. Unlike paint on canvas, which absorbs and holds, neon radiates outward, pushing its message into the room and onto the viewer. The work hums with literal energy, transforming what could be a whisper into something that refuses silence. Within Stefanski's broader practice, "I'm Still Here" represents an evolution rather than a departure. The artist has consistently treated words as emotional residue—traces of experience that linger and demand acknowledgment. This neon iteration suggests permanence and impermanence simultaneously; the light persists as long as current flows, making presence itself contingent and therefore precious. The phrase becomes not merely a statement but an ongoing act, a continuous assertion of existence in a world that often encourages disappearance. For inquiries about acquiring "I'm Still Here," collectors are invited to contact Guy Hepner gallery in New York.

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Edition & Provenance

Year
2024
Medium
Neon installation
I'm Still Here

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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