James Chaps’ suburban home doubles as a series of art galleries, floor-to-ceiling collections that range wildly from minimalist fine art to lowbrow portraiture. He bought his first pieces in college and hasn’t stopped, sometimes taking home three different works a month. Getting all the art onto his walls, however, is a bit of a challenge. There’s always a space issue, even with 2,600 square feet.

Buying local People talk of buying local; Chaps is the guy who does. Every room of his Henderson home is an archive of the Las Vegas arts scene over the past 10 years, with works by at least two-dozen artists who live (or have lived) in the Valley. A living room nook features an Erik Beehn hanging near a Thomas Willis and a Philip Denker, and above is a Peter Fox purchased from former gallery owner Naomi Arin (who supplied a good chunk of the work in Chaps’ home). “I like to support Las Vegas artists,” he says in a room speckled with pieces purchased from Trifecta Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Center, UNLV auctions, Vast Space Projects and Sin City Gallery. “There is a lot of talent here. Vegas can really run the gamut.”

Living with art A hair stylist who studied art in college and moved here from LA 15 years ago, Chaps buys solely for the love of art. His furniture is neutral, his walls white, and he prefers to hang the work salon style, save for the main living room where it’s more gallery style, giving visitors room to breathe when first entering the house.

“If I like it, I’m going to get it and worry about where it’s going to go later,” Chaps says in a room of works by Brian Porray, Aaron Sheppard, JK Russ, Lisa Rock and Stephen Hendee. “I hate to take stuff down. I get attached. I try to rearrange it. At night sometimes I’ll get up and walk around and look at them.”

Eclectic Anyone who has a Polly Apfelbaum and several Shepard Fairey works (originals and prints) in a home filled with Matthew Radford crowd scenes and paintings by singer Donna Summer is eclectic to say the least. Chaps’ current favorite is a suite of collages by Bettina Hubby, hanging together in one frame in the living room, recently picked up from LA’s Klowden Mann gallery. Thinkspace is another LA gallery he frequents.

The bedroom Nineteen paintings and mixed-media works hang in one corner of his bedroom, mirroring the magnitude of mostly small works throughout the room, including two collages by Chicago artist David “Netherland” van Alphen. “I like to put stuff in my bedroom so that when I wake up I’m looking at art,” Chaps says. “It puts me in a good mood.” Also included are works by Chicago artist Matthew Schlagbaum, who showed last year at the CAC, photographs by Las Vegas artist Todd Duane Miller and portraits of women by various artists, including Toronto-based Sarah Joncas, whose ethereal and dreamy female characters fill much of his kitchen.

The master bathroom Having a bathroom the size of a small bedroom opens up more wall space. Among works by Wendy Kveck, Sam Davis and Leah Craig are two acrylic pieces by Angela Kallus, a target painting and a lush red rose painting (the roses presented like cake frosting), that add richness to the room full of indirect light coming in through glass brick. “You should see when the sun starts setting and the lighting hits it,” Chaps says. “You can see all the dimensions.

“Someone once said, ‘You put them in a place where no one can see them,’” he adds. “But I see them.”