Guy Hepner Gallery

Eric Stefanski Mothers Are Underrated For Sale

Eric Stefanski
Eric Stefanski - Mothers Are Underrated, 2025, Oil on canvas

Mothers Are Underrated, 2025

Oil on canvas

20 x 16 in each 50.8 x 40.6 cm each

About this work

Eric Stefanski's "Mothers Are Underrated" presents its titular phrase in the artist's characteristic hand-rendered text, the words occupying the canvas with quiet authority. Executed in oil on canvas across two panels, each measuring 20 x 16 inches, the diptych format suggests both reflection and repetition—the kind of truth that bears saying twice, or perhaps the endless loop of maternal labor that goes unacknowledged. Stefanski's letterforms carry the slight imperfections of human touch, neither typeset nor calligraphic but somewhere in between, as though the statement emerged from genuine contemplation rather than design. The work operates in the emotional territory Stefanski has made distinctly his own: declarations that feel pulled from private journals or late-night conversations, rendered permanent through paint. There is no irony here, no conceptual distance. The statement lands with disarming sincerity, acknowledging a cultural blindspot with the simplicity of someone finally saying what everyone knows but rarely articulates. The choice of oil paint, a departure from his frequent use of acrylic, lends the surface a particular weight and luminosity, as though the sentiment itself demanded the gravitas of the older medium. Within Stefanski's broader practice of treating language as both image and emotional residue, "Mothers Are Underrated" functions as testimony—text that transcends mere reading to become feeling. The work does not explain or elaborate; it simply insists on recognition. For acquisition inquiries, please contact Guy Hepner gallery in New York.

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Edition & Provenance

Year
2025
Medium
Oil on canvas
Mothers Are Underrated

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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