These days you’ll find this George Sugarman sculpture in the roundabout at Channelside, cheerily greeting passersby. But its first 25 years of life were spent presiding over the intersection of Ashley and Kennedy in Tampa’s downtown.

Bronx-born George Sugarman (1912-1999) was a short man with snowy white hair and a cheerful demeanor, once described as a cross between Santa Claus and one of his elves.

He graduated from New York’s City College, served in the Navy during WWII, then headed to Paris where he was mentored by Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine. In 1955, at the age of 39, George returned to New York to fashion his own career as an artist.

With work often described as explosive, George Sugarman aimed to delight the eye and refresh the spirit. He is credited with being the first to create sculptures sitting directly on the floor (not on a pedestal), allowing the work to occupy the same space as the viewer.

In the 1970s he began focusing on commissioned outdoor sculptures, starting with Xerox in California, pictured here. Over the span of 20 years, he created 30 pieces for clients in the US, Australia and Asia.

Rivergate Tower was built in 1988 as headquarters for North Carolina National Bank (which later merged with NationsBank, which then bought Bank of America but kept BoA’s name). NCNB commissioned a sculpture to place in front of its new skyscraper on Ashley and Kennedy. Sugarman intended the 34-ft tall aluminum-and-steel installation to serve as a “symbol of creativity that energizes the whole area.”

The untitled 19-ton sculpture invites multiple interpretations, but when it was amusingly described as “an exploding chicken” by Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto, the name stuck.

By 2006, the once-bright sculpture had begun to fade in the Florida sun. Evergreene Architectural Arts formed a restoration plan whereby they scientifically replicated Sugarman’s original paint, then removed the old paint, then repainted the sculpture with the new paint using special high-performance technology.

In 2011, Rivergate Tower was sold. As part of the transaction, the iconic George Sugarman sculpture was donated to the city. Two years later, Exploding Chicken was dismantled and moved to its current location on Channelside.

Christy Rosen Clement is a Pricing Strategy Advisor®, Seller Representative Specialist®, Military Relocation Professional® and REALTOR® at Palermo Real Estate Professionals in South Tampa