Street Artist HOT TEA Transforms NYC Pool Into Rainbow Color on Roosevelt Island

Take a dip in the coolest New York pool of the summer, which has been transformed into a vast artwork. Street artist Eric Rieger – also known as HOT TEA – painted the candy-toned rainbows for the design firm K&Co and Pliskin Architecture on the deck of the Manhattan Park apartment complex on Roosevelt Island, and you can hang there all day for $25.

It took 120 gallons of paint to complete the artwork, and Rieger said he called it Asylum–not because Roosevelt Island used to house the New York City Lunatic Asylum–but “because the act of creating it pushed my mental and physical endurance so far that I wasn’t sure I could complete the task”.

This pop-up pool club is open to non-residents and boasts brand new sun loungers, hammocks and umbrellas for maximum ray-catching comfort.

Photo by K&Co and Pliskin Architecture

Photo by K&Co and Pliskin Architecture

Rieger was initially a graffiti artist, but after he spent time in prison for tagging, he went to art college to get a degree in graphic design, and this influence can clearly be seen in his brightly colored large installations, which include yarn-bombing a tennis court.

His grandmother initially taught him to knit, but when she died in 2007, he began to use those skills to create works of art throughout his home town of Minneapolis, including one at the MIA using 84 miles of string to represent the sun.

Photo by K&Co and Pliskin Architecture

Photo by K&Co and Pliskin Architecture

Regarding the sites he chooses for yarn-bombing, he said: “I gravitate towards old things…vacant spaces, spaces that aren’t being used any more, to sort of give them new life, so to speak.

“The medium itself, yarn, is pretty non-confrontational. When you add it to this [abandoned] environment that contrasts between the material and the colors. It really speaks to a lot of people. It speaks to me, that’s why I’m so passionate about it.”

Photo by K&Co and Pliskin Architecture

*Manhattan Park pool passes cost $25 on weekdays and $35 at weekends. Season memberships cost $450 per person, or $650 per couple. This article was originally published on Boo York City.