Dull? — collecting swim fins and making art with them

From Shorepound Lost & Found exhibit at The Great Highway gallery in San Francisco:

Jonathan Steinberg was born in 1959 in Glen Cove New York. He lives, works and surfs on the Westside of Santa Cruz. Jonathan’s photography and observations about beach culture can be viewed on his blog Harmless Neighborhood Eccentric: 

http://harmlessneighborhoodeccentric.blogspot.com.

“I am interested in the character and personality that common consumer items acquire with use and age. This exhibition has portraits and an installation with bodysurfing swim fins as their subjects. The fins are beautiful and functional when new and then as they are used, abused, loved and lost gain a quiet dignity and world-weary melancholy. The portraits are of individual fins that have gained narrative with age. The installation is made out of fins I have collected over the years. Most of my fins are orphans, found on the beach, at the dump, or at yard sales. I make pairs and give them away. If someone loses a fin they can come to me and find a match. Surfing comes before collecting and art.”