First published: Autumn 2024
An artist brings the skills of his Sicilian forebears, a carnival-like showmanship, and never-ending creativity to his New Jersey environment
About a two-hour drive from New York City, nestled in a rural area of northwestern New Jersey and surrounded by farms and woodland, sits Ricky Boscarino’s exuberant art environment, Luna Parc. Named after Italy’s oldest amusement park, the eight- acre property is a raucous accumulation of annexes, towers and outbuildings, lavishly encrusted with the artist’s handmade ceramic tiles and metal grotesques.
A three-storey, covered courtyard is at the centre of the main building; photo: Katharine Gates
Visitors taking a guided tour of the site are greeted by Boscarino himself, a bundle of wiry energy, with the well- honed patter of a sideshow barker, striking a pose in front of the main building. He brandishes a photograph of a dilapidated cabin, a glorified shed, the sole structure on the plot when he purchased it in 1988. There was not even a bathroom – he had to use an outhouse – but he knew even then that this would be the place where he would spend the rest of his life: “I spent that first night here ripping out everything I could inside of the house, and the work hasn’t stopped for 35 years!”
Handmade bug tiles reflect the artist’s lifelong fascination with science and the natural world; photo: Katharine Gates
For five years, the 600-square-foot cabin served as Boscarino’s living space as well as a metalworking studio where he made jewellery to sell at craft fairs around the country. By 1994, the jewellery business was thriving and he was fed up with the cramped conditions and primitive facilities. In a fit of inspiration, Boscarino broke ground on an ambitious extension.
The artist’s take on the Fibonacci Sequence; photo: Katharine Gates
By KATHARINE GATES
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #120.
