The Mysteriously Abandoned New Home

American printmaker and sculptor H. C. Westermann became known in the 1960s for playfully subversive works of art often made from found objects. The artist borrowed strategies from his Dadaist and Surrealist predecessors and created an oeuvre that defies stylistic definition and classification. This sculpture is characteristic of Westermann's exceptional carpentry skills. When describing The Mysteriously Abandoned New Home, Westermann wrote of the large octagonal canopy over a merry-go-round at Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park. The work is also reminiscent of the octagonal architectural forms that were popular in the United States in the 19th century.