H. C. Westermann

His sculptures frequently incorporate traditional carpentry, marquetry techniques, mixed media, and a range of personal, literary, artistic, and pop-cultural references.

Westermann's craftsmanship and uncanny, sometimes humorous presentation has led critics to compare his work to that of Surrealist-inspired artists such as Joseph Cornell, as well as Assemblage, Dada and Folk art.

[3] After graduating from high school, Westermann briefly enrolled in Los Angeles City College and later took a job in the Pacific Northwest as a rail worker in logging camps.

[3] At the start of American involvement in World War II, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps at age 20 and was stationed aboard the USS Enterprise as an anti-aircraft gunner.

[3] In a letter to a friend, Westermann describes a situation he experienced wherein he was strapped into an anti-aircraft gun emplacement on the ship's stern when they came under attack by Japanese aircraft.

"[4] Immediately following the end of the war, Westermann formed a two-man acrobatics act with the United Service Organization (USO) and toured the across Asia for a year.

[5] Feeling bitter and fed up with the current state of American art and unhappy with his personal life, Westermann reenlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1950 as an infantryman in the Korean War.

After he left the Marine Corps at the end of the war, Westermann enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago a second time under the G.I.

According to curator Barbara Haskell, this led to Westermann's work being loosely associated with Expressionism and Surrealism – the two most prominent traditions in the art of postwar Chicago.

[5] Westermann produced a wide array of works, from sculptures to lithographs, using materials ranging from paper and plywood to brass and lead.

[5] Westermann's later works retain this same theme of human helplessness, as they usually revolve around some scenario involving impending doom for the subject.