My good friend David Schoffman is a wonderful raconteur. In fact, his story telling talents far exceed his limited gifts as an illustrator. This is both fortunate and tragic as evidenced by his latest literary venture, J'accuzzi, a lushly illuminated travelogue of south-central France.
The premise -admittedly, quite novel - is a lush, annotated tour across the vast network of thermal spa resorts of the Massif Central.
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| from J'accuzzi, by David Schoffman (Librairie Nouveau Déchets), 2013 |
From the hedge-row valleys of the Bourbonnais to the narrow gorges of Ardèche and Cévennes, Schoffman takes us on a cyclonic junket through the great furrow of the Rhône. From the mesa of Aubrac to the volcanoes of Auvergne, David describes in excruciating detail every resort and every amenity.
In a prose as luxurious as the casinos of Vichy, David captures everything from the optimistic Belle-Époque architecture of Néris to the austere Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul. All along the way, he regales us with small portraits and illuminating vignettes of the eccentric people who frequent these oases of remedy and leisure.
While his watercolored images are in welcome contrast to the typically high definition digital imagery we've grown accustomed to in these types of coffee table publications their obvious aesthetic shortcomings hinder the work's overall effect.
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| from J'accuzzi, by David Schoffman (Librairie Nouveau Déchets), 2013 |
Though I'm not entirely sure who the target audience is for this type of "book" it's interesting to note that the publisher, Librairie Nouveau Déchets, has already deleted it from its catalog.
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