Want art? Arm-wrestle for it

Some people sing for their supper. Others arm-wrestle for their art. It's the ends that justify the means.

So sweating, panting and grimacing in a public arm-wrestling match onstage in front of about 100 people may not be that high a price to pay for a mixed-media work by Quisqueya Henríquez.

That was among the prizes awarded Saturday night to the roughly 40 men and 40 women who participated in Art Wrestling, a performance art piece conceived by Los Angeles artist Ioshua Okon and presented at the Art Positions container village in Miami Beach's Collins Park. The 20 galleries exhibiting at Art Positions donated the prizes.

Some may quibble over whether arm-wrestling is really art, but not Lizabeth Eva Rossof, 35, of San Francisco.

''What makes it art is it's disrupting something that's in people's minds,'' said Rossof, a performance artist in town for Art Basel. ``You're putting a sport, arm-wrestling, in a new context, which is an interpretation by the artist.''

That's easy for her to say. Rossof arm-wrestled her first opponent into the mat, and later emphasized that she was motivated by pure ambition.

''The thing that I'm really fighting for is the glory, the title,'' she said, tongue-in-cheek. But Rossof's effort was no joke. ''It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,'' she said of the match, which lasted about one minute. ``I definitely was quivering.''

-- DANIEL CHANG

When Art Basel visitors travel west for a look at the new Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, which is hosting a ''Breakfast in the [Sculpture] Park'' Sunday open to the public, they will be greeted by a 40-foot-tall digital tapestry created by Miami artist Xavier Cortada.

Titled aer in Greek, it's the first of four commissioned tapestries -- inspired by the four elements: air, water, fire and earth -- to be rotated at the museum's soaring atrium. As visitors enter the 40,000-square foot building and walk up to the second-floor galleries, the tapestry's upward floating leaves seem to be accompanying them.

''This work makes quite a first impression,'' said Carol Damian, director and chief curator of the Frost.

Cortada's work was chosen from among 80 pieces by artists who submitted proposals to the Frost for the Art in Public Places installation.

''It's an invitation to go upstairs and explore the art in the museum, and your relationship with nature,'' Cortada says of his artwork's position in the $19 million building, designed by architect Yann R. Weymouth to make the most of the campus' natural surroundings, including a lagoon view.

-- FABIOLA SANTIAGO

YELLOW BRICK ROAD, RUBY SLIPPERS AT GREEN EVENT

To fully enjoy Friday night's overcapacity Paint the Town Green event, you'd have to really like shoes -- as in Carrie Bradshaw like. Or, of course, be really into The Wizard of Oz. The exhibit celebrated the iconic movie's 70th anniversary (yes, it's that old).

The 25-minute wait outside Ocean Drive's Photo Studio in Midtown Miami was tough. If the stone-cold, Sopranos-like bouncers didn't make you want to slink back to your car, the music blasting from the VW-bug-sized speakers did.

Granted, once inside, the party was entertaining. Models were dressed up as Dorothy -- though we don't remember her showing quite that much cleavage. On view were pieces by artists commissioned by Warner Bros. to reinterpret Oz.

The most fun of the lot: Romero Britto's poppy Yellow Brick Road of the famous foursome; Glen Orbik's Esmerald Beauties, of the lion getting buffed by five young lovelies; and Nelson de la Nuñez' mixed-media Ditching Dorothy.

The world's top shoe designers were also asked to re-create the young Kansas girl's magic slippers in another part of the show, the Ruby Slippers Collection. Gorgeous red specimens hung from the ceiling inside bubbles -- e.g. Roger Vivier's crystal encrusted dazzlers; Manolo Blahnik's dainty high heels; and Betsey Johnson's whimsical pumps with bows.

Perhaps the most gratifying part of the night was the long line outside the men's room. ''This is a one-time event!'' giggled Las Vegas visitor Jennifer Graff said while snapping the embarrassed guys.

Cue to leave. Ah, no place like home.

• The Inspirations of Oz Fine Art Collection will be on display at the Miami Children's Museum from Tuesday through Dec. 23.

-- MADELEINE MARR

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