"We actually have fished together and there's a history of fishing in our family," says Fred.

But the artworks in this exhibit are not the depictions of fish or fishing gear that we might expect.

"Sometimes when we were fishing together late in the evening in Angel's Creek," says Fred, "a strange light would create unreal elements in the real world. It became one of those places between the foreground and the background where anything could happen."

Angel's Creek is in California's Sierra Nevada foothills, the heart of gold rush country, and it is here that Fred's relatives settled and father and son fished.

Fred Roster's 13 sculptures take a sinister but poignant look at a reversed world where fish are fishing for humans. "Use the Right Bait" is a series of five lures from five different woods hanging from rods. Each lure consists of a simply carved human figure with a twisted fishhook emerging from its groin.

"Early Sinkers" are large stone sinkers carved from serpentine, rhyolite, basalt and chert.

The steel and copper alloys in "Deep Water Fishing Boome-

rang" look like wood. However, this boomerang, with fishing hooks hanging from the edge of its inner curve, is heavier than it appears, and seems as though it might actually be able to catch something. But what? And how?

Fred's sculptures play seesaw with our sensibilities. We know they aren't actual gear and tackle for fishing. Nevertheless, his attention to detail and inventive but twisted connection to what we recognize as familiar compels us to question what we know. And in that process of self-examination, he hopes that we also question our greed and disregard for the balance of nature.

"Bell-shaped sinker," sculpted by Fred Roster, is made of stone and metal.

"The rock will cut through the axle and the whole thing will fail in time," says Fred. "It's meant to fail. Then, everything would be better for us."

"A Mempachi Pole for Cade" is a fishing pole made from the Buddha belly bamboo that grows in his yard. Bronze and silver human figures drape over the reel and line anchors.

"Part of my work is about the technology which allows us to hunt or catch anything to preserve ourselves," says Fred. "These pieces are trying to find a point in which we can find a balance with the planet. If you corrupt the technology, then you will find a place where fish would have an equal chance with fisherman."

There in oak country, amid the rolling foothills, rivers, rocks and trees, the truly magical outside world of nature meshed with his inner imaginary world.

His 21 watercolor paintings on paper depict an undersea world of fish of his own design. "Decoy Hunter" is a fish with a human figure decoy dangling from its dorsal fin.

At first glance, Cade's series of paintings resemble ancient Asian paintings with beautifully calligraphed poetry alongside the images. However, Cade's kanji isn't readable because it's in his own linear language. The fish iconography, at closer examination, borders on the macabre.

"Species," "Red Monarch" and "Blue Hunter" are fish fabrications with masses of eyes, teeth, mouth and fins. They aren't harmless aquarium pets — more Jules Verne than "Finding Nemo."

A stylized blue ocean swirls around the rocks in "Three Corners." "Star Chart" is a black-and-white painting of constellations of his fish iconography. This painting also includes a rabbit-man figure that appears in other paintings. According to Cade, he is based on a semi-legendary mythological character.

Although created independently, the artworks support and strengthen each other, reinforcing the power and tension in the images and shapes.

"There was a mystery about it until the day we opened the show," says Cade. "Maybe that's a male competitive thing although its not really competition. It's more about wanting to improve myself."

Although Cade sometimes feels like he is trapped in the family business of making art (his mother Laila was also an artist and a teacher), he can't imagine doing anything else and encourages family creativeness.

"Anything that Cade does I realize is part of me," says Fred. "I think it is the same for him. So he can't escape that but he can use it."