From signs to sneakers, he paints it all

CAMBRIDGE -- Kenji Nakayama walks into Massive Records near Harvard Square. A flurry of activity follows. People approach him to shake hands and to offer praise.

His paintings line the walls of the hip-hop record store. His pinstriping skills show up in the intricate designs decorating the back wall. His portraits of silhouetted DJs and hip-hop lyricists make up the Massive Records logo on the CD racks in the front of the store. The store's co-owner Jesse Christopher even wears sneakers painted by Nakayama.

The 26-year-old Japanese artist is a star here, but he is sometimes too shy to speak. He carries himself quietly and smiles from ear to ear. Short and wiry, he normally wears a stocking cap and often has a bit of spray paint under his fingernails. Friends say he is too humble to brag about his artistic talents.

But others have finally started to boast for him as he gains a following in Boston's thriving graffiti and street art community, a world where an artist's canvases may also be clothes, skateboards, and more.

Nakayama, who has a degree in mechanical design engineering, decided several years ago to pursue painting, his true passion. But he shunned a traditional art education because he simply wants to make something that looks good, as opposed to critiquing and discussing other people's art. So he enrolled at the Butera School of Art, a two-year sign-making program on Beacon Street, where the skills he learns will also enable him to make money painting boats and signs.

''I started stenciling three years ago," Nakayama says while looking at a painting of a cargo train that took a month to complete. ''I like spray paint. Airbrushing also."

Nakayama has embraced numerous art forms to create his style. He takes traditional sign-painting skills -- which include stenciling, pinstriping, and gold leaf -- and blends them with freehand sketch work, graffiti spray painting, and airbrushing.

He starts most of his paintings by taking a photo of something, usually a street or industrial scene; some of his best works are of North End alleys and homeless people sitting on the side of the road. He paints the backgrounds onto the canvas freehand, adds detail, and blows the photo up to the size of the canvas.

Next he makes several stencils. He starts with the lightest highlights of the picture and sprays the paint in. Then he cuts out the medium tones. He layers the paint on until he has the darkest darks. As the painting starts to take shape, he layers the paint thicker and thicker.

He captures emotion in the emotionless, making a debris-strewn courtyard between old warehouses look beautiful. His stenciling technique makes possible a multitude of variations of the same color. The range he can paint using just grays is stunning.

''I like alleyways and hidden spots. I don't really like pretty buildings," he says with a laugh.

Nakayama has sacrificed a lot to follow his dreams. He left his family, a girlfriend, and a Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 motorcycle in Japan to come to America a year and a half ago. Jesse Christopher says he believes Nakayama channels some of his sadness over the move into his bleak cityscapes and desolate warehouses. Nakayama, who smiles while talking about his motorcycle, says that moving was the toughest thing he has had to deal with in his life.

Nakayama says he gets his work ethic from his parents; his father, Mitsuru, is a civil engineer, and his mother, Takako, is a food service worker in a hospital. They want him to be able to earn a living, which is why he decided to learn how to paint letters and designs for signs and boats while working on skills that would make his art better.

Still, he jokes that he could become homeless at any moment. ''Never!" Christopher exclaims from behind a stack of records. ''You can sleep on the couch." He points to the couch at one side of the store. He is serious.

With Nakayama's term at Butera ending in May, he hopes to receive a visa extension so he can stay in the United States to further his art education. Jim Garballey, 58, a Butera teacher from Arlington, had offered to sponsor Nakayama, but that won't be required. Garballey's daughter Bridgett, 26, is helping Nakayama with the visa process. She is applying for a work-training visa on his behalf and she says she expects his request to be granted. ''Kenji immediately struck me as being brilliant and an artistic genius," she says. ''His art makes you feel as though you are right there in the picture."

Butera teacher Jimmie Birmingham calls Nakayama a ''prodigy." He says that in his 10 years at the school he has seen only five artists with similar talent. Nakayama is so respected at the school that John Butera, the top administrator, set aside a display on the top floor for Nakayama's artwork.

''He works all hours of the night," Birmingham says. ''I could never fathom putting that much time into something."

Besides Massive and Butera, Kenji's work is also on display at Proletariat, in the Garage at Harvard Square, and at Artist and Craftsman Supply on Massachusetts Ave. at Central Square. He had sneakers on display at Rekloos/Proletariat's Snek Atak showcase on March 13 and has several other shows coming up.

He will be at Hoffa's on Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge on March 29 and Bill's Bar on Lansdowne Street on April 27. He is scheduled to paint the Massive Records company car, and has a skateboard in the works for a show at the end of April. He hopes to hold a solo show at a local art gallery, and also wants to do album covers for artists.

''I want to paint everything," he says.