Hogue also refused to be influenced by his companions Franklin Reaugh and Ernest Blumenschein. Hogue is associated with the Dallas Nine, a group that painted, drew, sculpted, and printed pieces influenced by the Southwestern United States. This idea was unique compared to the movement towards drawing from European traditions. In contrast with the Impressionist or Abstract art styles, the Dallas Nine created realistic pieces according to their surroundings in the Southwest. The other eight artists included in this movement were Jerry Bywaters, Thomas Stell, Harry Carnohan, Otis Dozier, William Lester, Everett Spruce, John Douglass, and Perry Nichols. These artists and others worked together at the Dallas Artists League in 1932 and were featured in the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The Dallas Nine movement ended with the beginning of the Abstract Expressionism style that gained further popularity after World War II. However, Hogue used the Southwest region in a much different manner than the other members of the Dallas Nine school. Occasionally, Hogue is labeled as a Regionalist; he struggled with the idea of a Texan identity, like many other citizens of the state. However, he never referred to himself as a Regionalist. By definition his works were of the Regionalist genre, yet Hogue attempted to avoid this category. His realist landscapes of the Dust Bowl were more blaming Texans rather than identifying with them. As before, Hogue believed the destroyed state of the land was the fault of the human inhabitants. As the 1930s began, Hogue's style began to emerge. He focused primarily on natural processes as well as the world of Native Americans and their relationship with the land. Hogue called himself an “abstract realist,” saying that naturalism is not possible because every artist recreates a realistic landscape and changes it to fit their own idea of what the view really looks like. He argues that naturalism is created in the head of the artist. In the 1960s Hogue's self-defined style shifted more towards the abstract end. With realism still intact, Hogue did drawings and paintings of realistic images, but from different points of view, such as close- up studies like the "Tent Olive" images. Hogue painted during and after the Great Depression, which greatly affected most of his works. He was not employed by the Works Progress Administration or Federal Art Project, unlike other artists during the Great Depression,  Hogue chose to blame humans instead of evoking sympathy for them in his work.