A Retelling of My Art Rental Experience
by Vivienne Waite, Contributor
I woke up at 8:00am on Saturday, September 19th. Why did I rise at such an ungodly (I’m a night owl) hour? The morning of the 19th, my dear reader, was the morning of Oberlin College’s historic Art Rental. You, reader, may then ask, “but Good Sir, Art Rental lasts till 2:00pm, doesn’t it? Why wake at 8:00 to then arrive at 9:00, when such a process continues for multiple hours?” to which I would reply, “Thank you, Gentle Reader, for asking the question on all our minds. My reasoning for arriving so early was to attempt to beat the line. For when last year I arrived at 10:00 and the process of collecting a piece took longer than anticipated. I also could not risk to be there long, as I had plans at noon. I simply couldn’t risk the wait.”
Good Reader! I must tell you that there may have been an ulterior motive…we live in a culture that loves the thrill of behaving like a zombie for a special cookie, a smoothie, and, most recently: grown people arriving at a Starbucks at 3:00am to get the Snoopy Starbucks cup (I saw a TikTok). Perhaps it is the combination of feeling special, feeling like you earned that Snoopy Starbucks cup, that motivates us to rise before the sun. The less Snoopy Starbucks cups there are, the more they are worth. This exists in the art world as well. But does it apply to Oberlin’s Art Rental? What is the difference between me, an Oberlin Studio Art Major, waking up at 8:00, hoping to land a notable work of art, and a 32-year-old woman who loves pumpkin spice waking up at 3:00am for a Snoopy Starbucks cup? Oberlin’s Art Rental has attempted to distance itself from this thrill and the massacre of your sleep schedule by clearly stating, “Works will be brought out at random, so there is no need to line up early to choose from the Art Rental collection.”
Yes, I had seen this detail and still had decided to get there early. Now, was I hoping for a Picasso or a Dali? The idea is exciting, yes. But I never assume I will be lucky. That is, until the morning of the rental. I walked over from my dorm to the art building at around 8:45. At the corner of Tappan Square, about to cross the street towards the Allen, I saw him: Yeobie. Today was my day.
I arrived and hadn’t seen a line stretching from the entrance to the sidewalk and then some. I walked closer to the back entrance of the Allen, where the interested Art Rental flock would gather. Then I saw it: a line. A short line, but a line nonetheless. You, Gentle Reader, may wonder, “Good Sir! Isn’t a ‘short line’ subjective?” To which I would reply, “Of course, Reader, of course. Forgive me, I must be more specific.” I was maybe 20th in line. Ahead of me were art students and groups of friends with coffee. I was a part of the second group that was allowed in, the process was much quicker than my experience last year, when I arrived at 10:00am. There was a large abstract piece that was waiting for a three month guardian. Students ahead didn’t select this work, as not many students would have the wall space…but Reader, I did. I had been saving a corner of my dorm for an Art Rental work when I had first moved in, and this piece would fit (at least, I had hoped it would). This was the piece I had selected: Sam Walker’s Oblique Reference II.
It was heavy. And I am not a self-hating psychopath that enjoys pain, so carrying this heavy work back to my dorm I found fairly frustrating. On top of this, I could not rest, as I feared setting the work down on an uneven or unsafe surface. As I mentioned, Gentle Reader, I am a studio art major. This means I truly believe art is one of the (if not the most) important things about the human race. I would sooner stub my toe repeatedly than damage a one-of-a-kind art work of the past. This fact impacts my fear of hanging this very large abstract work on my wall. But, huzzah! Sam Walker’s Oblique Reference II is safe and still and sound.
So, are captivated Oberlin students the same as those who get high on Snoopy Starbucks cups? Maybe. But the structure and the organization of the Art Rental makes it not so. A student could arrive at 3:00am and it would not influence the value of the art they may get.
The work may not be a Dali or a Picasso, which is what one might hope to get (as Oberlin does advertise these names), but I could not ask for a better work to live with me for these next three months. The light blue and even lighter yellow ink, along with the abstract scene of black ink stamped on top fits very nicely in my already cozy dorm decorated with many of my own art posters.
