John Dilg in ‘The Big Picture’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

John Dilg, 'A Religious Experience,' 2009 - 10, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.
John Dilg, ‘A Religious Experience,’ 2009 – 10, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.

John Dilg is no outsider artist (he’s an art professor at the University of Iowa) – though his pared down painting style may look unskilled it purges unnecessary details from his eerie, uninhabited landscapes.  Muted colors and hazy lines add to the ambiguity of this scene titled, ‘A Religious Experience.’   Monumental in theme but not size (at 11 x 14 inches, it’s a little larger than book size), Dilg invites personal interpretations as he evokes a cascade of water or mountain capped by cloud a la Moses on Mt Sinai. (‘The Big Picture,’ a group show of small-scale painting, is on view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co through July 27th.)