The Chicken Man Can

South Carolina residents hope local artist Ernest Lee is “around for a long time to come.”


It’s no wonder Ernest Lee, better known as The Chicken Man, was just voted Best Local Artist of 2009 by Free Times readers. Not only are his paintings popular throughout the state, but people can’t get enough of them. His patrons come from all walks of life, and keep coming back for more.

Curry Edwards of Columbia just recently made her ninth purchase from Lee’s outdoor gallery on the 1400 block of Harden Street. She passed his flamboyant display for the first time four years ago while driving home from work. “I thought, ‘I’d love to see what that is,’” says Edwards. The next time she saw Lee, she did a u-turn and pulled in.

Edwards now has a five-piece collection of Lee’s work hanging throughout her home, and has bought various pieces for jealous family members across the United States. She sent one of the Columbia legend’s palmetto trees to her daughter in Baton Rouge, La., so she would have “a touch of home.”

Lee first came to Columbia in 1999, and is now considered a trademark of South Carolina. His signature chicken paintings have made a big impression here in Gamecock Country.

He started painting chickens in 1979 when a friend suggested that he paint something that he owns. At the time, Lee had a bantam chicken, a beautiful red bird with long, colored plumes. Taking his friend’s advice, he started painting chickens, chickens, and more chickens.

Lee says he gets a lot of custom orders for his work. “I paint chickens playing golf, tennis, football, laying at the beach, and dancing ballet. I’ll paint whatever you want,” says Lee.

Alex Lawson, an art school graduate and the chef at Pawley’s Island Tavern, says he has a caricature Lee painted of him as a chicken, cooking. “Friends see it and say, ‘Hey, it’s you! It's a chicken!"

Hank Dehart, a journalism student at the University of South Carolina, is an avid fan of Lee’s. His latest purchase was a set of chicken caricatures for his girlfriend in North Carolina. “She was wearing pearls, and I was in a tux,” says Dehart of the two portraits. “She loved them.”

Like many of Lee’s clients, Dehart is a repeat customer. "I love the low-country style of Ernest Lee's art. I have five pieces in my apartment now, but including gifts, I've probably bought well over ten.”

Lee’s unique style is what makes such a lasting impression on people. “It’s not a repetition of other work I’m used to seeing in the area,” says Lawson. “You can tell the content is important to the artist.”

Mary Inabinett Mack of Beaufort, S.C., says she has featured Lee’s work in her folk art gallery, The Red Piano Too, for about 20 years. “He has his own style; simple, but universally appealing,” says Mack. The Red Piano features the artwork of over 150 artists, but Lee’s stand out from rest. Mack says his paintings always trigger comments from her patrons. “Most of them recognize his art and say ‘I know somebody who has his work.’”

Lee says he paints about 25-35 pieces a day, and they’re not all chickens. He is currently preparing for his Michael Jackson exhibit next summer at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Columbia. The event will be held from June 25-27, and will feature over 130 pieces celebrating Jackson’s career.

Lee will also be selling paintings commemorating the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the lives of Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and “a host of others.” He will showcase about 150 paintings of his trademark chickens and palmetto trees.

Lee has been an artist for over four decades. “I started when I was 5 years old,” he says. As an artist, he believes in trying new things. He recently built his first monument, a Twin Towers memorial. He already has 500 hours into the project, and is one sunny-day away from finishing.

Dehart says he recently saw two of Lee’s paintings in his cardiologist’s office in Wake Forrest, N.C. “I couldn't help but smile because it reminded me of Columbia and my home in South Carolina.”

“You just don't see this kind of thing anywhere else,” says Dehart. “I want to see Lee around for a long time to come.”