COLUMBIA — For many commuters on Gervais Street, the bright palm tree and chicken paintings outside a run-down house turn more heads than any billboard could.
And to anyone passing by, thick letters below the roof, on a trailer and on a sign make it clear who painted them: “The Chicken Man.”
Ernest Lee, 64, who goes by the moniker, has worked as an artist in Columbia for more than two decades. He has painted at the same spot at 2250 Gervais St. for about seven years.
To some residents, his work has become a fixture in the city, seen in homes and businesses in the area — and in homes statewide whose inhabitants have a connection to Columbia. His original trailer is displayed at the South Carolina State Museum and a gallery in Greenville. His paintings can be found in homes as far as Norway and Hawaii.
Before opening his roadside studio and gallery in Columbia in 1999, Lee worked with his stepfather harvesting fruits and vegetables in Florida and around the South.
Commuters on Gervais Street may spot Ernest Lee’s bright palm tree and chicken paintings outside a run-down house as they pass by.
“A lot of hard labor work, man, all my life,” Lee told Free Times as he stroked paint onto a set of square boards, stacking them beside him as he finished each one. “I wanted to go do something different, but I had this all the time.”
Lee honed his craft at the Rose Hill Art Center — now the Aiken Center for the Arts — and the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta. Some of Lee’s earliest paintings were bucolic scenes of migrant laborers and fields. Paintings of country scenes, from wooden shacks to the iconic Scott’s BBQ in Hemingway, were on display one recent Friday, marked by a jagged, expressive style.
Lee’s gallery also features dreamy, wavy portraits of cultural figures, from music greats like Michael Jackson and James Brown to sports figures like South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer. Another piece commemorates then-Gov. Nikki Haley receiving a portrait he painted of her shortly after the 2015 Emanuel AME Church massacre in Charleston.
And then there are the chicken paintings, often depicting a chicken head atop a woman’s body. The idea to paint chickens began in 1979 with a friend’s suggestion to draw a generic one. But Lee wanted to create something more tongue-in-cheek.
Ernest Lee, 64, who goes by the moniker “The Chicken Man,” has worked as an artist in Columbia for more than two decades and has painted at the same spot at 2250 Gervais St. for about seven years.
“And I made an idea with the way I wanted to do it with a long body,” Lee said. “So I gave it the long neck, the boobs and the butt.”
Since moving to Columbia, Lee has used an empty lot on Harden and other parking lots where people invite him or allow him to set up. He said his current spot outside Five Points has been for sale for years, with a “Land for Sale” sign on the house behind his painting area. The property owners allow him to use the space as long as he keeps the grass trimmed, he said.
On March 28, the boards Lee was painting were prizes for an upcoming annual running event. People in the area also commission him to create custom artwork. Recently, he began painting “wedding chickens” for newlyweds and resumed designing refrigerator magnets.
Lee said he enjoys doing what he loves every day, even though he acknowledges that making a living from selling his art can be difficult.
“Whatever I make, I thank God if it ain’t but $80 dollars a day,” Lee said. “I love it.”
On March 28, University of South Carolina seniors Lucy Moore (left) and Annie McClain (right), both 22, browsed Lee’s collection, smiling as they peeked around chicken paintings propped against a classic car.
On Friday, University of South Carolina seniors Lucy Moore and Annie McClain, both 22, browsed Lee’s collection, smiling as they peeked around chicken paintings propped against a classic car. Moore was searching for a souvenir to remind her of Columbia after she graduates.
“We’ve seen his art everywhere and a lot of our friends have them …” Moore said. “And the family I babysit for has some more.”
Meanwhile, McClain wanted a wedding chicken painting for his sister’s upcoming nuptials.
“I’ve always told her about the Chicken Man and I want her to come visit and see,” McClain added.
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