AUSTIN, TX.- Visual artists Eric Manche and Sara Vanderbeek announced the opening of DORF, a pop-up alternative and experimental project space located in their South Austin in-home studio. With DORF, Manche and Vanderbeek provide a space to support and promote Texas-based artists as well as add vitality and momentum to the South Austin art community. The inaugural exhibition, Landscapes, Portraits and Still Lifes, opens May 11.

Manche and Vanderbeek open DORF as a response to recent closures of art spaces in Austin, attributed to skyrocketing real-estate prices. “Over the past few years, rising rents have displaced hundreds of artists and art spaces in Austin,” comments Sara Vanderbeek, “When we were priced out of our East-Side studio in 2014, Eric and I converted our two-car garage into a furnished studio/gallery space, which we will now open to the public to provide Austin’s creative community another space for exhibitions and creative exploration.”

DORF’s inaugural exhibition Landscapes, Portraits and Still Lifes is a group exhibition of Texas-based artists creating contemporary inroads within these age-old art-historical genres. The show features Elizabeth Chapin, Jeffrey Dell, Joey Fauerso, Ana Fernandez, Raul Gonzalez, Jules Buck Jones, Drew Liverman, Raymond Uhlir, Vincent Valdez and Sara Vanderbeek.

The exhibition, organized by Vanderbeek, coincides with the West Austin Studio Tour, May 12-13 and 19-20 from 11 am to 6 pm. The opening reception for DORF as well as the exhibition will be held on Friday, May 11 from 7 to 10 pm, with a performance by San Antonio-based artist Raul Gonzalez on Saturday, May 19 at 4 pm.

DORF is open Saturdays and Sundays 11 am to 6 pm or by appointment. The address is 5701 Lewood Drive, Austin, TX 78745.

Sara Vanderbeek is an Austin-based artist, independent art consultant, estate manager and curator. Her artwork has been included in several solo and group shows nationally, including the McNay Art Museum, Art Palace, The Contemporary Austin, Blue Star Contemporary, Women & Their Work, Big Medium, Deitch Projects , G Spot , Christie’s Auction House, grayDUCK Gallery and Co-Lab Projects. She earned a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2003.

Selected freelance projects include: co-curator and budget manager of 7.2M public art program, University Health System, San Antonio; art consultant for public artwork, Austin; collection manager and dealer of private collection of MONDO screen prints; founding member of ICOSA.

Eric Manche is an artist living in Austin, Texas. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 with a Film and Animation degree, he opened shop as a freelance creative director. He has since worked as designer, director and animator for local and national clients including Alamo Drafthouse, IBM, PBS, Jason’s Deli and Penguin Books. He has completed one feature-film (the 2018 Troma-released sci-fi comedy Slimed) and is currently working on various animations, comedy shorts and planning his next feature.