I like Catalan sculptor Xavier Corbero. I like his abstract style and the shape and scale of his pieces. One of them sits in the lobby of a prominent Chicago office building, 77 W. Wacker Drive, which rents to many prominent law firms.  It’s entitled “Three Lawyers and a Judge.”

But the first time I looked at it closely, I couldn’t help but imagine a conversation that occurred after they installed it, getting a protest from someone on the board, or a law firm tenant, perhaps, that the four brawny abstracts look too manly. “We can’t have four professionals without a woman! Which one’s the woman lawyer? Quick! Put some breasts on one of them, before anyone notices!”

Instead, seemingly out of context, this rough piece has a highly polished woman’s calf and pump seemingly slapped onto the front of one of the “lawyers.” It’s like Corbero is saying:

“There! HERE is your girl lawyer.”

I’m sure that’s not what happened. Corbero has used this style of polished shoes at least once before, in the The Broad Family sculpture in England.

But it still looks like an afterthought to me.  Why? I have no idea.

But there it is.