The Sharp Edges Between Soft Fields
The Sharp Edges Between Soft Fields - Oil Paintings by Ben Selman: Exhibition Opening April 4th 2026 6-9 pm.
Uncoded Studio 524 5th ST. Eureka, CA
This exhibition documents the interface between nature and the built environment of Humboldt County. Inspired by the area’s wild beauty and extractive economic history, the pieces reckon with the material remains of timber and agricultural industries. The works feature structures situated as jewel-toned sculptures on the landscape, challenging their marginalization. Rather than overlooking these eyesores, the pieces celebrate their aesthetic qualities and ask the viewer to consider their monumentality.
The long chains of labor and capital that manifest these structures – pulled through time by the hands of those that worked each site, that built each site, and that gathered and processed the materials imported to construct each site – come to an abrupt end when the logic of capitalism no longer adds up. Severed from the economic system that produced them, these projects are left to moulder like carcasses, marked by rot, rust, and the revelation of their skeletal frames. Even those places within the series that remain in operation are pocked by overgrowth, a steady process of deformation and reclamation by the forces that waning industry sought to dominate.
Thus the corpses of industry, haunted by their departed labor and capital, are – incompletely and toxically – restored to the landscape; their rigid geometry degraded and eroded into more tender organic shapes. Although their futures are curtailed by economic ‘realities’ these structures remain open possibilities.
“The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” – David Graeber, The Utopia of Rules
Ben Selman is a painter and teacher from New York living on Wiyot Land.
Music by The Revelers Three
Solstice at Uncoded Studio
The Gallery at Uncoded Studio is happy to host the Solstice Collective Holiday Shop for the 2025 season.
The Solstice Collective has been a holiday staple in Eureka, CA since 2020. The shop features many small, lovely, and unique gift items such as local ceramics, perfume by Maison Louis Marie, ornaments, instant print cameras and other fun items.
This year the Shop also features fine art prints from a variety of local artists, all made in house right here at Uncoded Studio.
The shop is open noon - 7 pm Thursday to Sunday, through the end of the holiday season.
The Art of The Movie Machine
It all begins with an idea.
The art of The Movie Machine show poster
Arts Alive Events:
Opening Reception, Saturday, October 4th, 2025 from 6:00-9:00pm. The Movie Machine Experience begins at 8:00
In his Sophomore solo exhibition, mixed media Artist Jack Cuellar presents “The Art of The Movie Machine.” A logical if not obvious follow up to his 2023 show, “Codes/ Cyphers/ Secrets.”
With mixed media serving as the physical vestige of the artist's works, the true art is Cuellar’s focus on systems that obscure and gamify data. The Art of the Movie Machine showcases the artifacts of progress for “The Movie Machine,” a human-powered algorithm under development since 2024.
The Movie Machine is a game show style event employed to help friends come to consensus and select a film through mini games of chance, trivia and ranked choice voting. Through the course of development, Cuellar has created mixed media pieces in response to and for use in “The Movie Machine.” These works will be on display through the month of October.
The Gallery at Uncoded Studio will be open from 6-9 pm Saturday October 4th to display these works and host a special public Movie Machine event starting at 8pm. Past Movie Machine screenings have included Bollywood films, 70’s exploitation movies, modern arthouse classics, and forgotten 80’s direct to video gems. Click here to see the trailers for all previous Movie Machine winners!
As a Houston TX grown artist, Cuellar began his journey as a cinephile thanks to his parents, “shockingly lax vetting of films he was allowed to watch as a six year old.” Today Cuellar lives and works with children on the autism spectrum, paints, and “spends too much on streaming services.”
The Gallery at Uncoded Studio is located at 524 5th street in Eureka
Learn more, Movie-Machine.com