Photoshop and other image editing software programs have become as much a staple of the professional photography studio as were the chemicals and enlargers of the conventional darkroom. Many contemporary photographers depend on post production digital technologies to catalog and refine their work. South Burlington artist Steven P. Goodman doesn’t just tweak his images - he uses the computer as a primary tool to compose his complex and atmospheric landscapes.

In his new show at pine street art works in Burlington, Goodman presents 20 prints in a series of landscapes of Vermont, Italy (and New Jersey). All the images in the show begin when Goodman takes a photograph. Then, in his digital studio, he adds details from other photographs he has shot, as well as bits of the found texts and symbols he has assembled into an image library. Sometimes he makes a painting from the original photograph, then takes a photograph of the painting and adds it to the work in progress, building many layers, ending with dozens of versions. The final prints resonate with a complex, rich and poetic beauty.

Goodman, who studied at UVM, Parsons School of Design in New York,and L’Ecole Des Beax Arts in France, has shown extensively throughout the region, including shows at the DA Gallery in Burlington and The Visual Arts Museum in New York City. He is also represented by Reeves Contemporary in New York City. His work has been awarded by the Stratton Arts Festival and the Vermont Council on the Arts.