It’s Friday afternoon at Identity, and Mike Harris and Rich Plante are talking shoes. Plante, who works at the Portsmouth footwear and apparel store, starts dropping cryptic hints about some hot sneaker releases on the horizon. “I know the future,” Plante says.

Harris balks. “You’re talking to the future,” he says. “I know this (stuff) already.”

Harris is a sneakerhead, an avid collector of choice kicks. He’s also a sneaker artist, one of the growing subculture of artists who paint and customize sneakers. Usually found in cities like New York and Hong Kong, sneaker art has made its way to Portsmouth courtesy of Harris, a Navy sonar technician who’s currently stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. He’ll be exhibiting his sneaker art, along with other works, at a special one-night show at Identity in Portsmouth next weekend.

Harris has been in town for almost a year now. The submarine he’s serving on is being  overhauled at the Shipyard. Since joining the Navy four years ago, he says it’s been hard to keep up with his art, but painting “is my true love. I just keep charging at it.”

Harris started collecting in May 1999 when Nike re-released the Air Jordan 4, or, as he calls it, “The Shoe.” Harris, 26, had longed for The Shoe since he was in fifth grade, when the AJ4 was originally released. A kid named Jeff Tyson had a pair and he had to have them, too. His family couldn’t afford a pair, however—they usually retail for over $100—and he had to wait until ’99 before he bought his own.
“After that, it was like nostalgia,” he says.

Since he purchased those fateful Jordans six years ago, Harris’ collection has grown to about 55 pairs of sneakers, although he usually wears only one or two pairs on a regular basis. He figures he spends about $150 to $200 a month just on sneakers. When he does commission-type work, customizing sneakers for other people, he usually asks for payment in kicks.

“Some people like to drink, some people like to watch movies,” he says. “I like sneakers.”

He’s only been customizing since November of last year, but he already talks like an old pro. He’s not cocky, but he’s certainly proud of his work and isn’t afraid to show it. Before sneakers, he worked mostly in watercolors and acrylics. He says he’s been drawing since he was 3 years old. He started out by drawing comic book characters (he cites Spawn creator Todd McFarlane as an early influence) and “sharpened his craft” at an arts-focused high school in his native Jacksonville, Fla.

“I just kept at it, because you get out what you put in,” he says.

But after seeing some sneaker art, he decided to transfer his skills to the footwear scene. After a few trial attempts on a friend’s shoe, Harris found the right paints to use, ones that work well with leather and don’t crack after drying, and “it was all magic from there.”

“It’s just like painting a picture … everything else is skill, patience and my idea,” he says.

Plante tells Harris to talk about how he had a pair of AJ4s stolen from him, but Harris protests. “I don’t want to talk about that,” he says, laughing a little. “It was, like, six years ago and I’m still hurting.”

There’s a whole world of sneakerheads out there. Harris and Plante agree that you can recognize them by the kinds of shoes they wear. Nike has the best designs by far, and the Air Jordan series is considered the best of the best. And some of the best sneakers can only be found in high-class boutiques and exclusive online retailers. Like most collecting-based subcultures, there’s a whole sneakerhead vocabulary, as well as a magazine, Sole Collector, that reports on the latest trends.

The world of sneaker art is still small, and Harris says there’s only a handful of people out there he considers “professional.” He likes the work of SBTG and Methamphibian, but “I don’t think they’re better than me … But I give credit where it’s due.” He goes by the name TTK—the letters used to stand for something, but now, he just likes the way they look.

There’s talk that some reps from Nike will be at the Aug. 27 show.

“Hopefully, the right people will see it,” Harris says. “Even if no big people come through … I had a chance to influence people out there, reach a kid out there.”

Mike Harris and his sneaker art
Saturday, Aug. 27 at 8pm
Identity Footwear and Apparel
130 Congress St., Portsmouth
603-436-9393