The Approach has shown contemporary art from the first floor of a pub in Bethnal Green since 1997. Jake Miller founded it that year as an artist-run space above the pub, and the gallery began representing artists in 1998. Visitors still enter through The Approach Tavern and climb a staircase to the rooms upstairs.
Today the gallery is co-owned by Jake Miller and Emma Robertson and remains at its original East End address. It represents UK-based and international artists across several generations, among them John Stezaker, Magali Reus, Mike Silva, Lisa Oppenheim, Sandra Mujinga, Sara Cwynar, John Maclean and Kira Freije, as well as the estates of Heidi Bucher and Maria Pinińska-Bereś.
Two rooms
The programme runs across two spaces. The main gallery shows the artists The Approach represents, while The Annexe, a smaller and more experimental room at the back of the building, is open to represented and non-represented artists alike.
Miller and Robertson lead the selection of exhibitions themselves, through ongoing research and studio visits with emerging and established artists. After a series of conversations, an artist may be invited into a group exhibition or a small solo show in The Annexe; adding an artist to the roster is a considered, collaborative process.
Recent exhibitions
Both rooms were in use in spring 2026. Lisa Oppenheim showed Portraits/Hybrids in The Annexe from 5 March to 4 April, and Sara Cwynar’s exhibition Baby Blue Benzo followed in the main gallery from 23 April to 7 June, centred on her 2024 anamorphic video projection of the same name. Olivia Jia’s exhibition Faun runs from 17 September to 31 October 2026.
The Approach adheres to the Gallery Fair Practice Code. It opens Wednesday to Saturday from 12 to 6pm, and by appointment.
Location: Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
Address: 1st Floor, 47 Approach Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9LY, United Kingdom
Website: theapproach.co.uk
Instagram: @approachgallery
