Hot Tea

Minneapolis / USA

Hot Tea, whose actual name is Eric Rieger, is a former graffiti writer and now installation artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Incorporating his love for typography and weaving, he uses brightly coloured yarn to create ‘fencework’ for which he weaves words and images into nail-studded light poles and chain link fences. His yarn installations have been featured as part of the opening of URBAN NATION Museum in 2017. […]

Biography / Hot Tea

Hot Tea, whose actual name is Eric Rieger, is a former graffiti writer and now installation artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Incorporating his love for typography and weaving, he uses brightly coloured yarn to create ‘fencework’ for which he weaves words and images into nail-studded light poles and chain link fences. His yarn installations have been featured as part of the opening of URBAN NATION Museum in 2017.

Captivated by the unabridged energy and chaotic essence of street art, Rieger started using spray paint on the streets. After a run-in with the local law which included some jail time, he decided that he wanted to proceed creating street art but moved on to develop it on a non-permanent and less destructive level. After attending Minneapolis College of Art and Design and receiving a degree in Graphic Design, Hot Tea started using his knitting and weaving skills his grandma had taught him to alter fences and grid structures in and around Minneapolis. Using different dimensions and angles his „yarn bombing“ soon turned into widely acknowledged artworks, which he now uses to bring awareness, emotion and perspective to a street style with a stale reputation.