Obsessed: Westside Storey owner Chris Harrington can’t get enough vintage art posters

Chris Harrington is the owner of Westside Storey at 1701 Summit St. The shop, which started as an antiques and resale store, now primarily offers Kansas City-themed merchandise and locally made art and goods.

Harrington is still obsessed with those vintage pieces, and his art poster collection is evidence. He has a dozen or more hanging at home and displays 20 to 30 overflow pieces at the store. Harrington collects anything, from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons. He likes modern artists as well as advertising posters from the 1920s through the 1950s.

“I have this old really large French radio ad from the ’50s. It’s a doctor whose head is a vinyl record, and he’s spinning with all these musical things,” Harrington says.

While his obsession used to take him to estate sales, auctions and antique shops, he finds he can feed it more readily online these days. The internet expands his ability to keep an eye out for pieces around the world. It also helps him easily find unique items, like the Mick Jagger by Warhol print he recently acquired. When he gets tired of things at home, he brings them to the store.

“They are for sale, but people don’t really buy them very often,” Harrington says.

As copyright limitations on the posters expire, Harrington is able to use them in more creative ways. But his motivation for collecting is simple: He enjoys looking at them at home and at work.

This story was originally published February 7, 2019 at 5:50 AM.