Mixed Response to Sculptures’ Return : Art: Tom Otterness’ controversial works depicting a nude woman and a baby are reinstalled at the new federal building downtown.

Passers-by stopped, stared and some even came to the new federal building downtown just to see the newly returned bronze sculptures that were removed in December after a complaint from Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles).

The building, named after the congressman, was dedicated Thursday. Viewers have had varied reactions to the sculptures, which are surrounded by metal railings. Everyone had something to say as they surveyed the highly stylized nude figures of a woman and baby--called pornographic by critics--and the frieze on the colonnade surrounding them.

“I’m ashamed,” said 67-year-old Milo Kvapil, a retired businessman, as he stood in the courtyard looking at the sculpture of a baby on her back balancing a globe in her palm, set in the middle of a fountain shrouded by mist. “It’s pornography, not art. It doesn’t need to be so explicit in a public place.”

“That one I kinda like,” said 32-year-old Ron Brown, a utilities engineer, shading his forehead to look at the sculpture of the baby. “If they’re complaining about nudity, they should look closer, it’s saying something. It’s positive, it’s surprising to see something so nice in a federal building. It adds a lot.”

Inlaid in bronze on the wall opposite the sculpture of the baby is the figure of the woman, her ankle shackled, squatting next to a globe and books. It was originally conceived partly as a commentary on public art, according to its creator, New York sculptor Tom Otterness.

Otterness said at the Thursday dedication that he was happy the work, “The New World,” was returned permanently.

“That the piece was reinstalled unchanged, I hope, would be encouraging to other artists,” he said. “I hope people who see it will be able to walk away with the feeling that the institutions don’t have to overpower you, that government can change.”

The two works were removed Dec. 2 after Roybal complained to the General Services Administration that the sculptures were inappropriate for a federal building. The GSA manages federal properties and the program that finances public art for those sites.

The incident sparked a controversy, and since then Otterness and the GSA have been working on a compromise, which eventually came in the form of the railings, designed to protect the figures from vandalism.

“It looks like the latest version of ‘Tales From the Crypt,’ ” said financial manager Larry Lyle Massey, 39, as he stood looking at the piece. “I agree with the people who wanted it removed. Why they put it back, I don’t know.”

“Putting in the fence was a good idea, because people were concerned that people would try to fondle the baby,” said IRS settlement officer Hank Naczas.

Naczas, 40, added that though he didn’t like the work, he didn’t think it should have been removed: “I wondered why they picked this for a federal building. But once they made the decision, they should stay with the way the artist conceptualized it. To take it out is censorship.”

Though Roybal made no comment about the resurrection of the statues, his chief of staff, Henry Lozana, said the congressman was not pleased with the works and felt he had no input on choosing the statues for the building.

“I’m glad they put it back,” said Rhonda Hershey, 29, a bankruptcy representative and artist. “People make too much out of nothing. Everyone has genitals.”