Her ‘Boob Garden’ sculpture in an empty South Philly lot delights and confuses passersby

Rose Luardo was jogging through her South Philly neighborhood last week when she stopped to join a group of people gathered around a furniture set that was covered in breast plushies and set up in an empty lot on Washington Avenue.

“They were asking each other what the meaning might be,” Luardo recalled. “I said ‘I don’t think it means anything guys, it’s just here.’”

Luardo would know. She put it there.

“I’m just a zany human being. I would say that my work on this planet is configuring funny things like this Boob Garden,” she said. “It has that feel of stumbling onto something incredibly zany you didn’t know could exist, and you can’t take your eyes off it.”

What’s just as surprising is that Luardo’s work has remained relatively untouched by passersby and the city for more than a week at the triangular cement lot between Washington, Passyunk Avenue, and Eighth Street that was once home to Capt. Jesse G’s Crab Shack.

“I thought it’d be taken, demolished, or in pieces in a few days,” she said. “But nobody has even moved them around, people haven’t taken them out of the order.”

Luardo, 50, a performance and soft sculpture artist whose preferred medium is “junk and trash,” sewed the dozens of breasts that cover the four wooden chairs and tiny table herself. She originally created the work for a May show she did with other artists at Space 1026 in North Philly.

The furniture came from her late father’s home in Wynnewood and she had the breast plushies — which she made in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes — from a show she did prior to the pandemic.

“These boobs have been in my life and I wondered ‘What’s the next level, what’s the next thing?’” she said. “I thought ‘They’re nurturing, boobs are soft, they want to embrace you, let’s put them on some furniture!”'

When the show at Space 1026 ended in late May, Luardo and her husband, fellow artist Thom Lessner, talked about what to do with the sculptures.

“It was like do we put it in the middle of Kelly Drive or on a mountaintop, or send them floating down the river?” she said.

It was Lessner who suggested the concrete lot where the crab shack once stood, and its sign still remains.

“Capt. Jesse G’s is weird enough. It’s a place you’ve walked by, a place you’ve seen, so maybe you wouldn’t notice it at first,” she said. “I really love that zany weird, waking LSD trip of it all, like ‘Am I really seeing this?’”

Luardo installed the sculpture herself on May 29 while listening to an audio book. She doesn’t know if anyone saw her because she was too engrossed in the book.

She left the work unsigned and went home. Then, came the questions.

“I had friends who are like ‘Hey what’s going on? I’ve seen your boobs,’ and somebody said ‘Yo your boobs are on Tinder! Someone took their profile pic with your boobs,’” Luardo said. “I’m really enjoying that people are liking this so much.”

For the last week, photos of Luardo’s work have made their rounds on Philly social media, spurring endless puns like “It’s breasttaking!” and “What areola is this located?”

A few days ago, South Philly bar Tattooed Mom posted photos on Instagram of the guerrilla artwork, dubbing it Captain Jesse G’s Boob Garden, and identified Luardo as the artist.

She loves the bar’s title for her piece as well as others, including: Lactation Center, Boob Furniture, and What the Hell is That?

As South Philly resident Duncan Gromko stopped to check out the work this week, he was confused but also pleasantly surprised.

“This space is ugly in general and terrible and not used at all, so it’s nice to see something happening here,” he said.

According to city records, the lot is owned by 1100 Passyunk Partners LLC, which purchased the property for $2.85 million in 2020. A number for the group was not able to be located.

At nearby Wilensky Hardware and Locks, owner Barry Wilensky said he’s cool with the installation and has seen many people stop to take photos of it.

“I did have a dream about it last night that I wanted to add color and spray-paint it green, yellow, and red,” he said, adding that his dream may have been inspired by recent Pride Month festivities in the area.

Luardo, a customer of Wilensky’s, was thrilled to hear it.

“That’s what I’m in for, that kind of reaction from that kind of guy,” she said. “I have done most of my work in gallery shows, but I think that art is supposed to be radically inclusive.”

Luardo, who’s dubbed the cement triangle “Jesse G’s Crab Shack Gallery,” said she’s excited to see what else she can do there (comedy shows, concerts, the opportunities are endless!).

Until then, she hopes her Boob Garden continues to break people out of their everyday lives for as long as it remains.

“It puts a little hitch in your giddy-up, it puts a little snap in your peas,” Luardo said. “I love something that’s a little ‘He he ha ha ho ho!’ and I think boobs on a chair is just that.”