I. About the Artist

Artist: John fingerhut
Exhibition: En Reverie
Media: Ceramics, Glass, Mixed-Media, Installation
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Dr. Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery
Instagram: @johnfingerhut

John fingerhut is an undergraduate at CSULB with a minor in graphic design and a minor in photography. He combines video photography with graphic design. His work explores reaching double exposure combination which is really cool. It caught my eyes seeing a projector screen over-layed with the photography. He loves traveling and hopes to live and work abroad one day. Italy, Germany, or even Japan would all be great options. He misses his friends overseas dearly. He’s a great guy with a creative mind!

II. Formal Analysis

The artwork that caught my eye was the Black Water piece. It was medium in size, with lines of water flowing horizontally across the piece. There was a shape of a hand represented with black and white water faintly in the back, The hand was colored and vivid in contrast with the (black-white) water (Staccato). There absolutely was rhythm in the water and texture. It water was undulating, sinuous. I did not get any of those large/tiny scale feelings since the artwork was medium in size but it was best viewed not too close to enjoy the water.

III. Content Analysis

What I gathered from talking to John about this artwork was that the Artist could relate to water in his life a lot. He made this art when his friends from Japan were leaving to go back to Japan (overseas), the hand is a “yearning” feeling which is a bit sad. Cycles in his life were portrayed. His dad was also a Sea Captain so the water means a lot to him and i saw it in a lot of his art. Life is always flowing and changing, there is never a dull moment and you just have to learn and adapt to it.

IV. Synthesis/My Experience

When i first saw this art work it looked a bit creepy. But I have a knack for horror films and saw it was eerie seeing a floating limb with what looked like static in the background at first. I then noticed it was black water, and thought it was a “hand wave”. It intrigued me about his story of his Japanese friends leaving over seas. I then began to think about my military friends that I had while stationed and deployed overseas. In a way, we all make new friends and yearn for old ones all the time in life. Meeting so many new friends make life enjoyable. Honestly, could feel the black water as static communication with our old friends. I’m glad I got to experience and explore John’s ideas’ to reflect on my life.