Questionnaire: Jim Drain and Naomi Fisher

Installation by Jim Drain. Courtesy the artist and Greene Naftali Gallery; Naomi Fisher, Beast Needs iPod. Courtesy the artist and Fredric Snitzer Gallery.

In anticipation of Art Basel Miami Beach, we asked art world figures of various occupations to share their to-do lists and cosmetics case, and their predictions for an unseasonable market in Miami. Jim Drain and Naomi Fisher are married Miami-based artists: Jim makes elaborate, anthropomorphic knitted sculptures; Naomi, who was born and raised in Miami, makes photographs, paintings, and ink drawings involving questions of femininity. We imagine that their experience of early December there is a bit New Yorkers’ in late December, but the multi-tasking pair expressed more generosity toward their self-indulgent seasonal tourists than we might.

Names: Naomi Fisher and Jim Drain

Position: Artists

Project at Miami:

NAOMI FISHER: I have new photographs at the ABMB booth of the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, I did a ten page spread of my photographs for the Art Basel Magazine, and contributed to the Vice Guide to Miami Basel.

JIM DRAIN: I made the outfits for the Gossip‘s performance at O.H.W.O.W., drawings at Agatha Wara’s show for Fredric Snitzer Gallery, “Death By Basel,” which opens December 5. I am teaching high schoolers at NADA on Saturday.

FISHER: Also, at the alternative art space Jim and I run, the Bas Fisher Invitational, there will be a show of artists from Portland, Oregon called “Rad Moon Rising,” curated by Kathy Grayson and Brace Paine from the Gossip, which opens December 4.

Number of years going to Miami: 

FISHER: Every year since the first year when the fair was cancelled in 2001.

DRAIN: Since Bush was re-elected. It was a weird introduction.

Why did you come to Miami?

FISHER: I was born here. After going to art school in Baltimore I was baffled why anyone would choose to live in a climate where winter exists.

DRAIN: I’m in Miami?

What is different about Miami during the 1st week of December?

FISHER:  The month before Art Basel is when the city does spring cleaning.  Any debris from summer storms gets swept up, new plants are planted, and there is fresh paint everywhere. 

DRAIN: Fewer hurricane scares.

One artist/project you are looking forward to:

FISHER: Olaf Breuning is doing a special project at the Sagamore Hotel, including a bodacious sand sculpture on the beach, and Gelitin is doing a massive show at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Wynwood.

The first thing you recommend others to do in Miami:

DRAIN: I like walking down Lincoln Road and then sitting and eating pizza.  

One thing you recommend people to bring

FISHER: High–SPF Sunscreen. And a teeny umbrella that fits in your bag, because you never know when there’ll be a quick tropical downpour.

DRAIN: A bike.  Riding across the Venetian Causeway is a really beautiful ride.

Your forecast for Miami fair season:

FISHER: As always, it will be the art world on spring break,  But I look forward to a renewed seriousness.

DRAIN: Sunny.