Press Articles
RISD Alumni Magazine – Winter 2024
Miami Color Theory
Laura Paresky Gould says photography is meditation with your eyes open.
By Edward Weinman. Winter 2024.
In the early stages of the COVID 19 pandemic, some of us became bakers, runners, Netflix bingers. Laura Paresky Gould MAT 91 began looking at the colors of Miami, where the graphic designer, ani-mator, photographer and fine artist currently lives, for inspiration.
Walking the streets with her iPhone, Gould documented the bright hues and shades that dominate the architecture and sky of this subtropical city. This photographic trip through the streets of Miami turned into a meditative pursuit.
“When something grabs my attention, I direct all my focus on that one object—whether it’s a shadow, a colorful wall, an interesting shape or line—I can get lost making a composition until it feels just right. When I am shooting, for me, photography can be meditation with my eyes open,” she says.
“The rest of the world, and any thoughts about the past or the future, is tuned out and my whole world is the light, colors, shapes and shadows in front of me. Plus, whatever I see is only there for one moment. If I come back the next day at the same time, the sky, the color and the light, are different. Photography is both meditative and grounding. It celebrates one moment in time, capturing it forever.”
The “forever” images she took became a hit on Instagram, and followers began flooding Gould’s IG account to the point where @miamicolortheory was born, and was awarded “Best Instagram” in the Best of Miami 2022 issue of The Miami New Times. Apple’s Instagram also featured a selection of Gould’s sophisticated images on multiple occasions.
Then came a book, Seeing Differently: Miami Color Theory (Tra Publishing), and a video series, and she began showing her vision of Miami in multiple art shows. During Art Basel in Miami last December, installations at the Royal Palm South Beach displayed the ideas behind Seeing Differently. Gould was part of the No Vacancy exhibition, which selected 12 artists and paired them with 12 area hotels to create custom installations for the public during Miami Art Week. She also showed a video display at Pérez Art Museum Miami along with her book signing.
“My book is based on a video series that I created for the Bass Museum of Art,” she says. “The series teaches minimal photography, seven elements of art and five composition techniques. There is also the meditative aspect, and it teaches about the practice of seeing, and visual awareness, calming the mind, focused attention, process over product and the concept of one moment in time.”
Gould was surprised by the reaction to Seeing Differently. For some, it’s about the design elements featured in the photography, others focused on the meditative quality of the images, the minimalist photographs leading to mindfulness. “And others like the book as a visual catalog of Miami. I wasn’t expecting that but it makes sense.”
Gould told Miami New Times that she shot “Miami like it was a flea market of color.”
A happy accident also helped spark Gould’s ode to Miami. In December of 2020, Adobe announced the removal of Flash from all browsers. “That meant my website, the online archive of all my favorite creative projects in animation, photography, and logo design, would no longer be accessible,” Gould says.
Before it was gone, she took screenshots of the pages of her website, and created an Instagram account of the Flash site (@vintageflashsite) and realized that she was still connected with the style of photography she shot from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
“During that time, I was using Fuji Velvia ASA 50 35mm slide film. I decided I would start shooting minimal images again and I was driving in Wynwood (a neighborhood in Miami known for its many murals), and I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did have my iPhone. So I shot images of colorful buildings. I was blown away by the saturated and vibrant colors and how beautifully the iPhone captured them.”
She started posting one photo a day to Instagram and within about six weeks a magazine in Italy, FrizziFrizzi, contacted her and wrote an article about the series.
“Oftentimes, I would find something visually interesting to shoot, and then learn more about the architect or be introduced to a new mural artist’s work. Daily errands turned into an adventure. There is always something interesting to look at. And beauty is everywhere.”
FRIZZI FRIZZI MAGAZINE 12.11.2023
Seeing Differently book collects images of the Miami Color Theory project and teaches how to “look” and use photography as therapy
by Simone Sbarbati December 11, 2023. (translated from Italian)
I didn’t fully realize it when I was doing it, but in hindsight I realized that I had always used photography as therapy. If initially the objective was to find my own personal language, building it on the stylistic features of the great masters who I had studied at school and who I felt were most similar – above all, the Becher couple and the so-called “Düsseldorf school” -, over time the purpose of taking beautiful photos took a back seat, overtaken by the urgency to explore, through photography, the places around me, and to do so with a different, new gaze. Photographing, at a certain point, became the fuel that, in moments of great disorientation and fog, pushed me to wander: first through the countryside of my childhood, then among the factories of the industrial areas, and finally through the neighborhood. Driving around, clocking up kilometres, I didn’t take photos but I was looking for photos. And, looking for them, I came across stories, met people, came across perspectives that, simply by walking, had not yet revealed themselves. Above all, I freed myself from internal rumination, setting the mechanisms of attention in motion.
When, a few years ago, the epiphany arrived and I began to realize how photography, for me, had never been an end but only a means to – in a nutshell – “feel good”, I still didn’t know that this thing had been widely studied, systematized and sold under many names and in many variations: Zen Photography, Look Again Photography, Miksang Photography, meditative photography, etc.
Beyond the labels (they are ways like any other to find serenity: there are countless of them, and it takes time, luck and patience to find the most appropriate and effective one for yourself, taking care not to waste money on easy recipes sold as miraculous), the fruit of that whole process is therefore not the photo itself, but, in fact, a state of well-being, a “reorientation” (which I imagine is very similar to that of someone who goes for a run until they sweat out their mental toxins) and the shot – analogue or digital – becomes the pure and simple visible trace of that process: a secondary product, in which the aesthetic/artistic result is of little or no relevance. But if that result exists, then why not enhance it?
This is what the American artist and designer Laura Paresky Gould did.With a background as a graphic designer and a history of success in many areas of the cultural industry — among other things, designer of logos and animations, typography teacher, founder of a children’s brand and photographer, published in magazines such as Vogue, Esquire, Elle, Elle-Décor, GQ and New York Magazine and newspapers of the caliber of the New York Times, in 2021, after having unearthed from her archive the shots taken years earlier of the architecture of her adopted city, Miami, Paresky Gould has begun, also as a reaction to the long dark months of the pandemic and lockdowns, to wander the streets again.
Armed only with her iPhone, she went in search of vibrant colors, original perspectives and hidden patterns, which she could spot thanks to her trained eye. “I started to experience the surrounding environment in a different way” she says. “I looked more. I noticed more. I could enjoy the simple beauty of a shadow, the bright colors and patterns on buildings, everywhere. This increased awareness has made my daily experiences more joyful and exciting, and less stressful. Even driving in traffic, I am amazed by the various colors and variety of shapes. Without realizing it, I was bringing a more conscious and contemplative approach to my photography.”
Paresky Gould framed that “journey” in a project, Miami Color Theory (I have already written about it here), launched on Instagram at the beginning of 2021 and has now become a book.
Entitled Seeing Differently, it collects in 172 pages more than 110 photographs taken in recent years, and is inspired by a cycle of three video lessons that the author produced about a year ago for the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, in which she addressed themes such as the principles of minimal photography, composition techniques, the so-called “7 elements of art” (line, structure, shape, space, texture, color and color value, i.e. brightness, shades and hue), the art of image editing via smartphone and, finally, the most important element, education in looking, learning to see.The book — populated with quotes from photographers, men and women writers, architects and experts on “mindfulness”, and introduced by a text by Silvia Cubina, chief curator and executive director of the Bass Museum of Art — is divided into three main sections: The Practice of Seeing, Minimal Photography and The Seven Elements of Art.
The photos – a festive chromatic and geometric parade where, as I wrote in the other article, Miami “is both unrecognizable and very recognisable” – therefore become an opportunity to illustrate the basic rules of composition and to reflect on concepts such as visual awareness, knowing how to focus attention, living in the present moment. “This book” writes the author “is a love letter to the magical city of Miami, and also an invitation to observe and celebrate wherever you are right now. Beauty is everywhere, once you practice seeing. If seeing a burst of color or an unexpected shape can bring joy to someone, and if joyful people are more positive and kind, perhaps learning to see differently can have the ripple effect we all need.”
MIAMI NEW TIMES 11.28.2023
In Seeing Differently, Laura Paresky Gould Captures Joy With Minimalist Photography
After the pandemic-caused lockdowns, photographer Laura Paresky Gould says she felt visually starved. She ventured outside, where the colors were bright and abundant, and it was safe to wander freely without confronting anyone else’s breath.
“I started to shoot Miami like it was a flea market of color,” she tells New Times.
She started to capture the city where she’d lived for a few decades with a new perspective. The minimalist photography shot on her iPhone became part of a larger series of projects that educate, enrich, and showcase the unique shades and shapes of South Florida in a way that enraptures audiences.
Her Instagram account, @miamicolortheory, has accrued 11,000 followers since its inception in 2021 and was awarded “Best Instagram” by New Times in 2022. It blossomed into zines’ videos on the Bass’ YouTube channel; the book Seeing Differently: Miami Color Theory, published by Tra Publishing; and now her fourth show during Miami Art Week — this time as a No Vacancy resident at the Royal Palm South Beach. Paresky Gould will discuss her book with the Bass’ curator, James Voorhies, at Books & Books in Coral Gables on Thursday, November 30.
She decided to roll out her work on social media once Adobe Flash, where her work previously lived online, was taken down in 2020. She started by posting one image a day. Within six weeks, the Italian magazine Frizzifrizzi featured a well-researched article about her work. Soon after, she hashtagged #shotoniphone, and Apple started to post her work, quickly expanding her presence.
“I felt like I was back in the whole world again,” she says of the experience.
A Boston native, Paresky Gould started shooting minimalist photography while studying art and art history at Duke University. She received her master’s in teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design. That led her into the world of animation in Los Angeles, where she designed logos for companies like NBC, Nike, and E!. In the 1990s, she moved to Miami and became the design director at Ocean Drive magazine. She soon started her design firm, met her husband, and had three children.
“I always knew I was going to go back to my own work; I just didn’t know how,” she reflects. She found her inspiration in the colors that pop in the subtropical sunshine. “Part of what I think is so beautiful is the light in Miami, and then on top of that, we have pink and yellow and purple buildings.” She learned a lot about the muralists who decorate the city and architects who shape the area landscape, like Arquitectonica and Shulman + Associates. It gave her a better sense of the community through design.
She was also inspired by the work of Ingrid Fetell Lee, who wrote Joyful, a book about how design and color can bring us joy. She wanted to let others, especially kids, feel empowered to capture and share that feeling for themselves through minimalist photography.
She reached out to the Bass’ director of education, Kylee Crook, to work on furthering the idea for her book and shape the accompanying video series, “Seeing Differently.” It helps people develop a way of seeing the world around them differently, explore mindful meditation, and capture their perspective with their phone cameras.
Crook says the book and videos are approachable for people at all skill levels. “The photographs are very appealing and catch your attention, and then you find extremely user-friendly resources for people to experiment on their own,” Crook observes. “I appreciate that the goal is not merely to educate about photography; it’s to inspire a thoughtful way of perceiving the world that is not daunting but welcoming and enriching.”
Paresky Gould says it’s also noticing the world around us in our everyday lives and deriving joy from it. “When you start looking for beauty, you find it,” she says.
FRIZZI FRIZZI MAGAZINE 3.04.2021
Graduated from Duke University and with a master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, the American artist and designer Laura Paresky Gould has a long and eclectic career behind her, which has led her to travel different paths in the creative field, obtaining excellent successes in all of them.
Between the mid-90s and early 2000s she was the one in Los Angeles who won prizes after prizes by designing logos and making animations for Nike and for television stations such as NBC, CBS and E! Entertainment Television, and in the meantime she exhibited in her galleries her shots with colors saturated with numbers and letters found around (a real “typehunting” well before it became fashionable to practice it), with which she composed words and sentences.
After moving to Miami, Florida, she began photographing the colorful architecture of the place, publishing her shots in magazines all over the country and continuing to juggle many jobs: freelance designer, design director of Ocean Drive magazine, typography teacher at the Miami Ad School, founder of a brand of children’s products, as well as a fashion photographer and food photographer, appearing on the covers and pages of various magazines, from the New York Times to Elle, from Esquire to Vogue, from New York Magazine to GQ, Architecture and Interiors.
Today Paresky Gould runs the studio Twain Creative with her partner Dan Hardie, but recently – after archiving her old website and reviewing the shots she took years earlier on film – she decided to start photographing the architecture of her adopted city again, this time however choosing to walk around with an iPhone instead of a traditional camera. Shot after shot, the idea turned into a real project, Miami Color Theory, launched on Instagram in early 2021.
Miami seen through the designer’s “graphic” eye is both unrecognizable and highly recognizable. It is made up of details, unusual angles, patterns, color contrasts and large backgrounds that turn out to be clear walls and skies.
Sometimes, at first glance, it does not even seem to be in front of photographs and it is necessary to observe with a little more attention to realize that they are not graphic works or digital renderings – but the great talents of graphic design can be seen also from this, from how they manage to look at the real world and make it look like a drawing that just came out of their work table.
CULTURED MAGAZINE 3.23.2021
Pattern Play. In her @MiamiColorTheory project, Miami-based graphic designer, animator, photographer, fine artist and entrepreneur @laurapareskygould explores the beauty of the Magic City’s architecture, colors and shapes through incredible iPhone shots. Highlighting the locale’s myriad of Art Deco geometries, even light and vivid hues, Gould celebrates the visual joy of South Florida. “I like the term ‘Vu JàDé,’ as opposed to ‘Déjà vu,'” says the talent of the digital project. “Instead of seeing things again that you’ve seen before, it’s looking at things you already know with new eyes.”
THE NEW TROPIC 4.25.2022
Who are you? What do you do?
I’m an artist, photographer, graphic designer, and a mom of three teenagers and two Rottweilers. My latest creative project is @miamicolortheory, an Instagram account documenting the colors and elements of Miami, all shot on an iPhone.
The series somehow pulls together my earlier careers: I was a motion graphics designer and animator in Los Angeles, a magazine design director here for Ocean Drive, I taught typography at Miami Ad School, and I was a commercial photographer in the film days. I’ve also exhibited artwork ranging from photography, to painting, to digital and data art. It’s freeing to shoot everything and edit the colors and motion on an iPhone. In between, I got married, had three kids, and was a soccer mom. I knew I’d come back to my own art, I just didn’t realize it would happen so quickly.
What brings you most alive about this city?
I love Miami! We are so lucky to have perfect blue skies and warm sunlight highlighting the creative, brightly-colored architecture, Wynwood Walls, and Art Deco gems. We are also immersed in an abundance of spectacular nature, from sandy beaches with vibrant lifeguard stations, to palm trees in every direction, and water all around with dolphins, manatees and more. There really is beauty everywhere! Shooting this series is a delight. I now see my surroundings differently. In addition to introducing me to local architects, other artists and photographers, and the zine world (hello Dale Zine and Exile Books!), I’ve been enjoying the simple beauty of a shadow, as well as the colors and patterns on buildings every day.
What’s your favorite Miami memory?
My favorite Miami memory is when I first met my husband Eric at Books & Books when it was on Lincoln Road. Back then it had an indoor café with glass windows. I spilled coffee all over the table.
If you could eat only one meal from a local restaurant for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Ooh – so many to choose from! Let’s see – my go-to lunches on Miami Beach are Pura Vida’s Mango Salmon Bowl and Carrot Express’s Roasted Brussel Sprout Kale Salad with Apple Cider dressing, or Apple A Day’s Paradise Fuel Juice and a chia pudding. If you asked my kids, it would probably be the butter krab roll from Pubbelly with the wedge salad. When they are happy, I’m happy… So I’ll go with Pubbelly, final answer.
Pick a favorite local outdoor experience. What is it? What’re we doing? Who’s going with ya?
Pickleball with my friends! So much fun.
What’s your favorite local Instagram account to follow and why?
Other than @miamicolortheory, @omiamifestival right now since it’s poetry month.
If you could give any one piece of advice to locals, what would it be?
Everyone is so busy that we often don’t take the time to stop and notice what’s right in front of us. So, my one piece of advice has two interrelated parts:
1) Vu-Jadé: Look at your surroundings as if you’ve never seen them before, and
2) Ichigo-Ichie (Japanese proverb): Treasure each moment as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.
What’s an unpopular opinion you have about the city?
I don’t mind the hot weather! I’m from Boston, so I’ll take it all year!
What are you looking forward to this year?
I’ve been working on a three-part video series for The Bass Museum’s education department called Seeing Differently. Part 1 is Minimal Photography, Part 2 is The Art of Editing (iPhone tips and tricks), and Part 3 is The Practice of Seeing, a more mindful approach. It’s been such an exciting project. I can’t wait for everyone to see it!
MIAMI NEW TIMES 6.22.22
BEST of MIAMI 2022: BEST INSTAGRAM: Miami Color Theory
With its postcard-perfect images of the Brickell skyline and art deco buildings, Miami has long been ready for its close-up. But no one has shot the city more intimately than artist, photographer, and graphic designer Laura Paresky Gould, who runs the popular Miami Color Theory Instagram account, launched in January 2021. Using just her iPhone and a drone, Paresky Gould captures the colorful shapes and shadows of the city’s unique architecture and composes them as if they were works of modern, abstract art. For example, at first glance, the bright orange eyebrow of a South Beach apartment and the worm’s-eye-view of a Brickell skyscraper take on the geometry of a Mondrian painting. It’s this perspective — exaggerating the smallest of details — that often stumps locals, who then peek at the comments to figure out what they’re actually looking at.
APPLE 4.15.2022
There is beauty all around us.
“Color has always sparked joy for me. I am fortunate to live in Miami where there is an abundance of colorful subject matter and brilliant light. I like to capture the overtly beautiful as well as the seemingly mundane, proving that beauty is everywhere if one takes the time to look.”
#shotoniphone by Laura G.
@miamicolortheory
APPLE 12.17.2022
“There’s a special beauty and calmness watching water alter, blur, and bend familiar images.”
#shotoniphone by Laura G.
@miamicolortheory