test.sh

#!/bin/bash

# takes a list of find patterns and transform it into arguments to find
find_args() {
  echo -n "-name '$(glob "$1")'"; shift
  while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    echo -n " -o  -name '$(glob "$1")'"; shift
  done
}

# checks whether $1 contains a globbing pattern
# returns: '$1' or '*$1*'
glob() {
  if [[ $1 =~ [[]*?] ]]; then
    echo -n "$1"
  else
    echo -n "*$1*"
  fi
}

dir=$(mktemp -d)
touch "$dir"/{foo1,foo2,foo3,bar1,bar2}

declare -a args=('foo1' 'foo2' 'bar*')
echo "without eval"
find "$dir" $(find_args "${args[@]}")
echo "with eval"
eval find "$dir" $(find_args "${args[@]}")

rm -r "$dir"

working

#!/bin/bash

# takes a list of find patterns and transform it into arguments to find
find_args() {
  declare -a fargs=("-name" "$(glob "$1")"); shift
  while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    fargs+=("-o" "-name" "$(glob "$1")"); shift
  done
  echo "${fargs[@]}"
}

# checks whether $1 contains a globbing pattern
# returns: '$1' or '*$1*'
glob() {
  if [[ $1 =~ [][*?] ]]; then
    echo -n "$1"
  else
    echo -n "*$1*"
  fi
}

dir=$(mktemp -d)
touch "$dir"/{foo1,foo2,foo3,bar1,bar2}

declare -a args=('foo1' 'foo2' 'bar*')
echo "without eval"
find "$dir" $(find_args "${args[@]}")
echo "with eval"
ssh host "find \"$dir\" $(printf "'%s' " $(find_args "${args[@]}"))"

rm -r "$dir"