
Paintings
75 works

The Blissful Feeling Of Immortality, 2023
Oil on canvas
44 x 34 in 111.8 x 86.4 cm
Eric Stefanski's "The Blissful Feeling Of Immortality" presents the titular phrase rendered in the artist's characteristic text-based approach, where language becomes both subject and form. The words occupy the canvas with deliberate presence, their arrangement transforming a philosophical statement into a visual meditation on transcendence and human longing. Executed in oil on canvas at 44 x 34 inches, the work demonstrates Stefanski's continued exploration of how written language carries emotional weight beyond its semantic meaning. The painting operates in the space between reading and seeing, asking viewers to experience the phrase not merely as information but as sensation. Stefanski treats each letter as a carrier of feeling, building the composition so that the words themselves seem to pulse with the very bliss they describe. The scale invites intimate engagement while maintaining enough presence to command attention within a larger viewing context. Within Stefanski's broader practice, this work exemplifies his interest in capturing what might be called emotional residue—the traces of human experience that cling to certain words and phrases. The choice of subject matter here is particularly resonant, addressing immortality not through imagery of eternity but through the permanence that language itself offers. There is something both aspirational and melancholic in the statement, a tension the artist allows to remain unresolved on the canvas surface. The work reflects Stefanski's ongoing investigation into how text-based painting can access psychological territories that purely representational work cannot reach. For acquisition inquiries regarding "The Blissful Feeling Of Immortality," 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.