Art Professor, Photographer to Showcase Solo Exhibition in Woodstock

Danny Goodwin to Present ‘Object Oriented,’ a Project Exploring Themes of Surveillance, Secrecy, Violence

Danny Goodwin is an associate professor of art and the director of the Studio Art Program at UAlbany. (Photo by Brian Busher)

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 9, 2019) – Danny Goodwin, a photographer and an associate professor of art, will present a solo gallery at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum (WAAM) this summer. 

The exhibition, Object Oriented, will be on display from July 13 through Aug. 4. 

Goodwin said that the exhibition is a culmination of years of photographic projects that have explored issues related to intelligence, surveillance, violence and deception. 

He said his work making images of clandestine “escape and evasion” devices reproduced through 3D printing merged his philosophical interests with other themes tied to the visual rhetoric of photography.  

“In all the paradoxical ways that we consume photography, from art to forensics to advertising, we accept a level of deception from this medium,” said Goodwin, the director of the Studio Art Program at UAlbany. “In truth, all photographs are constructions.”  

Most of the works to be featured in Object Oriented will be on display for the first time in public view, according to Goodwin. The solo exhibition is also a part of WAAM’s centennial celebration.

An artist Q&A session with Goodwin will take place at the museum on Saturday, July 20 from 3-4 p.m. 

The Rise of Homeland Security 

Goodwin also is collaborating with Edward Schwarzschild, an associate professor of English, on a book that examines the growth industry of homeland security in the United States. 

The book, tentatively titled Portraits of Secure Lives: Security Workers Talk About the Parts of Their Jobs They Can Talk About and How They Feel About the Parts They Can’t Talk About, will feature photographs by Goodwin and the excerpts from dozens of interviews with current and former DHS and intelligence personnel that were conducted by the two faculty members over the course of the last four years.  

Goodwin said that both he and Schwarzschild’s connections to the field of military intelligence through family members spawned a shared interest to explore the discipline further together. 

“Ed and I shared the connection of having fathers who had to keep a lot secret because of their work, and we both have used art to work through personal experiences,” he said. “We decided to collaborate to ask people what it’s like to have that kind of life, and to learn how the security industry, how our world, is changing.” 

Portraits of Secure Lives is expected to be published in 2021, according to Goodwin. 

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