Eric Rieger (HOTTEA)

HOTTEA's Arts on Chicago Project »

Eric Rieger (HOTTEA) is a well-known street artist. His stunning typographical installations are both beautifully elaborate and simple. His works have been displayed by invitation throughout the United States and internationally, with recent exhibitions in London, Berlin, New York City and Los Angeles. HOTTEA has exhibited at Minneapolis Future Presence Gallery and HAUS Salon, and he contributed to a series of European television commercials for a Converse shoes campaign. In 2013 he will exhibit new work with a solo show at the Burnet Art Gallery in downtown Minneapolis. He received his BFA in graphic design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Artist Statement

The two words hot and tea or more specifically the phrase “HOT TEA” was chosen to highlight the relationship between the two words.These two words compliment each other both physically and grammatically. Without one or the other you wouldn’t have a phrase that evokes a sense of comfort, warmth and relaxation. In a physical sense without hot water all you have is tea, and without tea all you have is water, but when both put together you have “HOT TEA”. Hot tea is greater than the sum of its parts. Like the phrase itself Hot and Tea are two totally different words brought together to represent something new, which reflect on the media and surfaces that the project makes use of.