Ricky Boscarino has spent nearly 35 years transforming a former hunting cabin in rural Sussex County into New Jersey’s most improbable art studio and museum, which is awash in colour and filled with a bewildering assortment of collectibles.
“I view the house as a monumental sculpture,” Boscarino explained.
More than 100,000 items are stored within Luna Parc, which has evolved from a hunting cabin to a 15-room structure on 11 levels, including a ballroom, during Boscarino’s residency. A neighbouring home on the 8.25-acre property is owned by the non-profit arts colony foundation he established in 2015 and houses summer interns.
“Luna Parc is a multi-media, art installation extravaganza museum, and it also happens to be my home,” said Boscarino, 62, who uses metal, clay, glass, wood, and cement in his sculptures, in addition to making face pots and jewellery for sale.
This year, Boscarino has lined up three interns, one of whom will assist with cataloguing his entire collection. The Sussex County Arts Council awarded him a grant of $1,250 to hold a youth poetry festival, tentatively scheduled for July.
Named for an Italian amusement park, Luna Parc is simultaneously unavoidable and easy to overlook. It is situated off a narrow road that connects to Route 206, approximately five miles from the Pennsylvania state line.
His residence, as described by Boscarino in an interview, reflects his fascination with the world that existed before the digital revolution redefined how we live. There is no collection of early cell phones, but there are phonographs and record players that were once commonplace in homes.
He spoke of a room devoted to weaving, his collection of antique tweezers from India, corded telephones, and approximately 300 salt-and-pepper shakers.
“I would classify my entire collection as analogue. Boscarino stated, “I’m interested in anything pre-20th century or early 20th century.”
He recalled one of his open houses — Luna Parc will not open this year until May — where a Sonny and Cher record was playing for the guests.
“A young boy, perhaps 7 years old, approached it with wide eyes and exclaimed, ‘Look, it’s an old-fashioned CD player!'”
The attractions appear to exceed the bounds of imaginability. The “hall of hats,” as Boscarino refers to it, is a small room filled with approximately 100 hats collected during trips to more than 40 countries. During his most recent trip to Tibet, several years ago, Boscarino was drawn to what he described in an interview as a festival hat for men.
It resembles a lampshade with a very long fringe, according to Boscarino.
There is also the “nature lab.” He stated that it contains the insect collection from his childhood in Piscataway, vials of water from rivers around the world, bottles of sand from deserts, the preserved remains of animals — including a squirrel in a pink tutu he calls the “dancing ballerina squirrel” — and even the various kills of Lily, his 8-year-old Calico cat, sole houseguest, and “hunter.”
Boscarino stated, “She spends a great deal of time in the woods and dragging specimens home, which I then preserve in formaldehyde.”
“She is an expert at capturing snakes. I possess a complete jar of snakes. That is her entire prey. She brought a bat home one day; I have no idea where or how she obtained it, but there is a bat in there,” he added.
Unlikely, he is still searching for more items.
Boscarino stated, “I’m still in the middle of collecting.”
Elsewhere in New Jersey, it is common for neighbours to quarrel over mundane issues such as fencing and leaf blowers. Boscarino lives in a residential area, but his property is sufficiently isolated for no one to object.
Ricky is an extraordinarily talented and creative individual. Mayor of Sandyston, George Harper, remarked, “He has always been respectful and considerate of others.”
According to Boscarino, he was the only homeowner in the neighbourhood when he moved there in 1989.
He stated, “I’ve been here for 34 years.”
“I would say that anyone who opposed or questioned the purpose of this location has long since moved on. Everyone who has moved here is aware of this home. “It is unquestionably a landmark,” he said.
As a child, Boscarino was introduced to Sussex County. He attended summer camp near his current residence, either in Stokes State Forest or Beemerville.
“I recall taking a bus to get here. It felt like we were going to Alaska,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when tours ceased and he was home alone for over a year, he constructed an outdoor kitchen that he continues to use.
“This was one of my most fruitful years. I can’t think of anything more incredible than being stuck at Luna Park,” he said.
Is there anything he is unaware of?
“I’d love to possess a meteorite. “I’ve always imagined a meteorite striking the front lawn and turning it into a tourist attraction, not that it isn’t already a tourist attraction,” he said.
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