I’ve posted about some of St. Petersburg’s public art installations in the past.  In fact, I just posted a couple of days ago about the new O Wave sculpture in front of the Ovation condominium in downtown St. Petersburg.  Well,  here I go again – just happened to be in the area and I saw this and decided to get a shot of it and post it.  The title of this work is ‘Security Lizard’.  It sits on the roof of the City of St. Petersburg’s Fleet Management building at 1800 7th Avenue North, guarding the facility from who knows what.  You can see it to your right as you take the on ramp to northbound I275 from 5th Avenue North.  Or if you’re taking the downtown connector to head northbound on I275, you’ll see it on your right as you enter the last curve before the Interstate. 

The creation is one of many amazing works by Paul Eppling – it’s made out of recycled pieces of metal and chrome from junk cars and wherever else he might find interesting parts for his works, including salvage yards, sheet metal plants, and one of his favorite sites, farm auctions.  In addition to this Lizard, Paul also has great prehistoric creatures lurking in the Boyd Hill Nature Park in south St. Petersburg, and I’m sure I’ll be posting on Boyd Hill as soon as it cools off a bit…

Security Lizard (click on photo for larger image)