“I do not like art museums. Instead of looking at a piece of art because you find it appealing, the bareness of the room forces you to look at it because there is nothing else in there.”

Oberlin, Ohio is not a very well-known town. It is known for exactly three things: the guy who eventually made aluminum foil used to live there, Liz Phair went to college there and of course, there is a college there that people like Liz Phair used to go to.

At the start of each semester, you will find a crowd of students gathered outside of Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum. They are patiently waiting for the opportunity to rent original works for $5 by artists such as Picasso, Renoir, Dali and Warhol, among others, which they can then hang in their homes or dorms for the entire semester.

Sound like a good idea? I thought so, too. I do have relatives who currently live in Opieburg, and driving through it, you are not very likely to think that this town is the home of such a revolutionary program. The fact is that it really is a very unassuming little town.

Normally, I’m against this sort of art pimping. I hate Warhol more than any other artist (Jackson Pollock is a close second), and I hate what he has done to the world of art. I feel that somehow his very presence has cheapened art to the public.

This is why I love this idea; most people can look at a work in a museum and see it as only a picture. A museum is impersonal; it resembles a hospital ward more than it does a place to appreciate great works. Most of us feel more comfortable at home.

The program was begun in 1940 by Ellen Johnson, an art professor at the college. Today the program holds 431 works, and in 2005 it sold out all but three of them…in the first day.

As stated before, I do not like art museums. Instead of looking at a piece of art because you find it appealing, the bareness of the room forces you to look at it because there is nothing else in there.

Real art, the kind of art that moves people, is alive, mobile. It grabs your eye and it holds your attention because something inside it appeals to you. Any artist who genuinely feels for their art will tell you the exact same thing.

Once art enters into your life you are forever changed. As Ellen Johnson stated, giving students the opportunity to rent art “would develop the aesthetic sensibilities of students and encourage ordered thinking and discrimination in other areas of their lives.” I could not agree more. Even being around great art is inspiring, and I wish that other colleges would follow Oberlin’s example with this program.

Yes, you are expected to pay for the work if it is damaged, and yes, most people would argue that renting art for one semester is pointless. However, these people are missing the point. The art itself may only be in your life temporarily, but it is entirely possible that the effects of its presence will reverberate for years.

Great. Now I have to admit to my dad that Opieburg is not completely without merit. Fan-foikin-tastic.

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