David Hill Gallery, London | Opening September 30, 2021
A Poetic Portrait of Los Angeles
Carrie Scott and David Hill are proud to present Beer Soda Lotto, a long-standing photographic series by Ben Hassett. This exhibition marks Hassett’s first solo show, unveiling a body of work that transforms the mundane into something extraordinary—a poetic and unparalleled portrait of Los Angeles.
Hassett’s lens focuses exclusively on Los Angeles' liquor stores, capturing them with a painterly sensitivity that is as analytical as it is seductive. At once an ode to the intoxicating beauty of LA’s desert light and a study of urban decay, Beer Soda Lotto presents a city caught between nostalgia and disrepair.
The Impossible Stillness of the American West
Steeped in the traditions of American street photography, Hassett’s images echo the frenetic energy of Garry Winogrand and the cool detachment of Ed Ruscha. Yet, his work is distinctly his own. His compositions are meticulously structured, bathed in brilliant, hyper-real color, and eerily devoid of people. Where there should be movement, there is stillness. Where there should be life, there is only light and architecture.
"Ben Hassett’s series is a study—into the history of photography, the history of how we look, and the history of how we, collectively, let cities fall to ruin. They are also, simply, beautiful portraits of the color inherent in the American West."
— Carrie Scott, co-curator of Beer Soda Lotto
Each photograph is a paradox—meticulously composed yet filled with chaotic visual details that might be lost in a blink of an eye. A liquor store sign merges into a surreal linguistic accident, reading “Cherry Liquor” instead of its intended message. A toppling stack of boxes in an upstairs window introduces a note of tension amid an otherwise symmetrical frame. These subtle, uncanny moments push the viewer to look closer, revealing details they might otherwise ignore
Photography as an Act of Seeing
Los Angeles is a city of contradictions—utopian in light, dystopian in structure—and Hassett’s photographs capture this duality with astonishing precision. His use of an architectural camera, a tool typically reserved for the meticulous documentation of buildings, allows him to correct converging verticals, composing each scene with an almost impossible clarity.
This process is both painstaking and urgent. Hassett plotted each location carefully but had to shoot at speed, aware that many of LA’s neighborhoods are not welcoming to lingering observers. His photographs offer a perspective that no passerby could fully absorb in real time, creating an experience that is at once immersive and unsettling.
"With echoes of the early Photo Realists, Beer Soda Lotto is so impossibly hyper-real that it leaves the viewer asking more questions than it answers."
— David Hill, co-curator of Beer Soda Lotto
A City Bathed in Melancholy Light
Beyond their technical mastery, Hassett’s photographs are infused with a timeless melancholy. Los Angeles, a city so often depicted in motion, chaos, and excess, is rendered empty, eerily silent, and steeped in the deep, saturated colors of the desert sun.
"Hassett’s vision of LA is poetic—against the flat bleakness and empty streets. This is a portrait of a city, but also a portrait that illustrates our failure to observe."
— The Eye of Photography
Ben Hassett: Beer Soda Lotto
Curated By Carrie Scott
Critical Acclaim for Beer Soda Lotto
"Seductive and timeless, Hassett’s images look almost like oil paintings with their rich colors, clever compositions, and heavy textures."
— Creative Boom
"Evocative and melancholy in its subject, the series celebrates the beauty of Los Angeles and how its breathtaking desert light fills every corner, bathing every sidewalk, building, and facade in brightness that Britain rarely experiences."
— Creative Boom
A Hyper-Real Vision of Los Angeles
Through Beer Soda Lotto, Ben Hassett captures a Los Angeles that is both familiar and otherworldly—a city of sun-bleached storefronts, flickering neon, and forgotten corners, where color and light become the main characters. This is not just a study of place, but a study of seeing, asking us to consider how much of our surroundings we truly absorb.
For those who love photography, architecture, and the stark beauty of urban landscapes, Beer Soda Lotto offers a striking, unforgettable experience.
The exhibition opens on September 30, 2021, at David Hill Gallery, Notting Hill, London.
