There is a saying that “if something exists in a variety of types, sizes, shapes or colors, you can be sure that somebody, somewhere, collects it.” In a world awash in material goods, it is pretty difficult to not be a collector. And I applaud anyone who doesn’t collect anything, although I see your hoard of nail polish bottles in those acrylic boxes in your bathroom. It’s okay. You’re not alone.
Take for instance Keith Sadler, a decades-long folk and outsider art collector, who has filled every inch of his Chicago apartment with stuff. But like any good curator, attention is paid to theme and organization, with head sculptures grouped together on the window sill, decorative roadside attraction souvenir plates displayed in the kitchen, and all of the dining room dedicated to outsider artist Stephen Warde Anderson. Anderson, a self-taught artist from Rockford, Illinois, paints portraits of B-movie stars, royalty, boy-band members, and even the singer Enya (yes, you read that last part right). But Sadler prefers to collect both unique outsider art pieces and kitschy commercial items as witnessed by the number of John F. Kennedy salt and pepper shakers lining the shelves of his kitchen. “If one JFK salt and pepper set is good, 35 sets are better,” he says. “I literally want every one ever made.”
