With his chosen moniker, Roast Hoggmann firmly places himself among the anthropomorphic creatures that populate his world.

The hog, a stand-in for the artist, reappears at various ages, from a child learning about mortality, to a skull abandoned by a riverside. A diverse group of characters occupy this stage- a yeti tiredly mows his lawn in Los Angeles heat, a vase happily looks up at the flowers it holds, and a bull apologizes for his son in a china shop.

As Hoggmann notes, "Humor is a powerful tool, a universal language, that hits the gut directly.” He increases this empathetic connection by building up the paintings so that the characters have one step in our physical world and one within that of the frame.

Painted windows are glossy, succulent leaves are slick, and hair is bristly. As he layers paint, he sculpts and cuts it, adding and subtracting until each element finds its natural place in space.

The vulnerable figures are built up until they seem almost touchable, inviting us to share in their humorous and sweetly sad predicaments.