Jack Lavender

Jack Lavender’s practice shifts between painting, drawing, sculpture, and collage. What unites all these strands is his infatuation with juxtaposition. Lavender obsessively collects random found objects such as plastic toys, kitchen equipment or basketball hoops which he finds himself drawn to, he incessantly photographs the British coastline. He also gathers printed materials from magazines, newspaper clippings, old books and flyers—with a particular focus on the 90s and 00s new age raver subcultures. This heady mix of materials is then intuitively and organically assembled together in either two-dimensional pieces or crossing over into three dimensions in the sculptural realm. Within this instinctive process of collaging, different motifs, patterns and images surface as narratives for each piece are built in tandem. Each positioning signals something to audiences, with the contrasts in each work telling different stories. Bizarre and playful in tone, Lavender’s work undeniably sits in conversation with Dada, Duchamp and Conceptual Art. However, his interest in the writing of Mark Fischer, current planetary conditions and rave culture distance his practice from these formal art historical references. In his own words, each piece is about “understanding where you’ve come from, where you’re going and seeing those two things as a whole”, with each piece hosting fragments from different historical moments, contexts, and geographies, an immense temporal and spatial elasticity is allocated to the works. ...

The Approach is co-directed by Jake Miller and Emma Robertson. Located in Bethnal Green above The Approach Tavern, for over twenty years it has operated an internationally recognised programme from its East London base. The gallery is known for discovering artists and establishing their careers as well as making inter-generational curated group shows a strong focus. The list of represented artists includes the Estates of important overlooked female artists Heidi Bucher and Maria Pinińska Bereś, as well as seminal British collage artist John Stezaker, together with established and emerging artists including Magali Reus, Peter Davies, Lisa Oppenheim, Sandra Mujinga, Pam Evelyn, Sara Cwynar, Sam Windett and Caitlin Keogh. Over the years the gallery has operated parallel programmes in additional gallery spaces in London’s West End (The Approach W1) and in Shoreditch (The Reliance). The gallery is currently based solely in its original East End location and continues to expand its programme, showcasing its represented artists in the main gallery space, and both represented and non-represented artists in The Annexe, a smaller, more experimental space at the back of the building. ...