John Mitchell visits the exhibition JAKE! at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, on view through February 23, 2020.

More than a standard review, Mitchell chronicles his thoughts about Berthot’s paintings and drawings over six extended visits to the show. Mitchell recounts how the show inspired him to dig deeply into Berthot’s body of work, carefully considers Berthot’s painting surface, “he was working with the way actual light and shadow play across the surface of a painting;” muses on Berthot’s treatment of his frames as a “fully integrated feature of each painting;” and more. Mitchell characterizes in words how a show of great paintings can pull the viewer in to the world of the work itself.