We can’t talk about local arts without mentioning the legendary Chicken Man.
If you've ever driven through Five Points or been to local restaurants, you've seen his work. With over 15,000 paintings circulating around Columbia, The Chicken Man has become one of the city’s most recognized artists.
The Chicken Man, also known as Ernest Lee, parks his studio on wheels on the corner of Gervais and Harden streets almost every day. Lee says customers are constantly stopping him to talk to him and buy his artwork.
Lee paints unique images of chickens in human situations. Among his most requested pieces are the chicken man, chicken weddings and his iconic logo of the chicken head.
Although a lot of people think his chicken artwork was inspired by the USC mascot, that's not the case. Lee admits he is a USC fan, but says he owned chickens in his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina and was inspired to paint them.
“I gave away about 70 paintings when I first started, but then people started requested them so I started to sell them,” Lee said.
He admits that when he first started painting chickens, he was skeptical that people would want to buy them.
“They sell around here because people like the Gamecocks,” Lee said.
His painting of the chicken man has become his most beloved piece of artwork. However, he does not limit his work to just chickens. He first began painting country scenes. He also paints palmetto trees and famous people, such as Stevie Wonder and James Brown. He has been known to take requests and paint them at his mobile studio.
“I paint right here on the spot,” Lee said. “I try to make what they want. I paint wedding chickens, flamingos, pretty much whatever they want.”
Lee started drawing when he was just five years old and began painting at 11. Over the years, he's taken art classes in Virginia and spent 10 years painting in Washington, D.C., where his art was exhibited in the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, as well as the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Alexandria, Virginia and the Rose Hill Art Center in Aiken, South Carolina.
Lee set up shop in Five Points around 1999, and he's been there ever since. He is a self-taught artist and has passed his skill down to his son, Scotty Lee.
The younger Lee has been painting for 11 years, ever since he was seven years old. He sells his own style of painting right alongside his father’s.
“When I first started, my chickens looked a lot like [my father's]. I didn’t want to copy him,” Scotty Lee said. “But I paint cars, chickens and palmetto trees, too.”
Both of Ernest and his father consider themselves to be folk artists, use their art to make a living and feel blessed to do what makes them happy.
“It’s hard,” Lee said. “But at least I’m doing it honest.”
Although Lee is most known for his acrylic painting of chickens in people’s clothing, his personality is where his fame resides. Lee’s stories and conversations are as popular as his art. He says he stays friendly with people because it makes him happy.
“You are supposed to stay blessed and humble,” Lee said. “I came from a long way and had a heart. I know what it’s like to be mad and all that, so I try to be happy. I try to keep it on a spiritual level.”
Lee considers himself lucky to be able to express himself through his paintings and make an honest living. He is well aware of his local popularity and says he gained his reputation from just being himself.
“Be what you are, don’t be what you ain’t," he said, "because if you be what you ain’t then you ain’t what you are."
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