Sara VanDerBeek

Sara VanDerBeek's artistic lineage is deeply ingrained in an environment of artistic influences, such as her father Stan VanDerBeek, an experimental filmmaker with surrealist inclinations, and her brother Johannes VanDerBeek, a sculptor. This artistic background appears to have instilled a sense of curiosity, creativity, and idealism in her that is shown through her work. VanDerBeek's photographic works primarily feature abstract sculptures that incorporate a range of subjects, including art history books, personal photographs, magazines, and newspapers. Her creative process involves constructing sculptures in her studio, which she then photographs and often disassembles, leaving behind only the photographs as evidence of their existence. VanDerBeek is fascinated by the transformative power of photography. She believes it addresses fundamental aspects of our existence by altering our perceptions of time, place, memory, and scale. Recently, VanDerBeek has begun to display her sculptural forms alongside her photographic works in exhibitions, further building upon the complex relationship between the object, the image of the object, and the idea of the image as an object itself. ...

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. ...