Detailed, precise, organised, words that describe the review by Rob Barton on Ethan Cook’s exhibition, titled Lobstee. Named after a poet by Minimalist Aram Sarogan, this exhibition follows all the rules of traditional minimalism. Cook’s exhibition goes back to traditional minimalism, keeping everything in its simplest form. And this exhibition displays this perfectly; a non-minimalist would make a painting, Cook on the other hand has broken down the painting into its individual components, canvas and wood.
With an Exhibition so simple, room for elaboration is a must to produce anything worth the time to read. Barton has managed to talk in detail about Cook’s work in detail without wandering from the subject. Elements like these create strong material, and are even more of an accomplishment when dealing with a sparsely filled exhibition. With only two pieces in Cook’s exhibition Barton has been able to give the reader a plethora of information, detailed descriptions and informative details on materials. Barton has been able to make a review that is crammed with detail that it could be published without any visual aids
Compared to a review by Christy Lange for Freeze Barton’s review is comparatively easier to read, whilst still containing all the information to be up there with the Freeze reviews. Dependent on your style of reading either would do, but for those who want something quick and easy to read Barton’s would be the logical choice. For something more in-depth and complex Freeze is your answer, and possibly it would be from a regular writer for the magazine. Barton’s would be a easy choice if you were interest about the exhibition, but didn’t want to trek all the way to the exhibition, s there is sufficient detail that you wouldn’t need to