Egg began painting barnyard tableaus on some of the furniture, then branched out, turning the space into a still-life petting zoo. With jigsaw and paintbrush, he creates giant wooden cutouts of everything from hogs to hollyhocks. Rocking chairs with nests on the seats are free if the customer manages to hatch the eggs, the artist says. Of all the animals in Egg's menagerie, chickens top the pecking order. They've come into style, much like sunflowers or Woody Jackson's Holsteins, because they remind consumers of childhood and a simple country lifestyle that is becoming extinct, he believes.
People are into chickens.
Every other year, Egg builds a special thematic show around his beloved cluckers. Another time, he portrayed Russian-style chicken icons with gilded, jeweled lace haloes. Two years ago, he depicted chickens of the fashion world such as Calvin Cluck and Coco Capon photographed in her legendary Paris henhouse. All in all, Egg has daubed thousands of coop-dwellers over the years. There are about 700 varieties of chickens, but many are too weird-looking to qualify as subjects, the artist says.