Cynthia Albritton, aka Cynthia Plaster Caster, the legendary artist and “recovery groupie” best known for the plaster casts she made of the erect penises and other body parts of many top musicians, has died after a long illness, her rep confirmed to Variety. She was 74.
Her collection included Jimi Hendrix, MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, as well as female breasts from the likes of Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, Sally Timms of the Mekons, Peaches, Karen O of the Yeah Ja Ja and many other. She later expanded her subjects to include filmmakers and other artists, eventually amassing a collection of 50 plaster phalluses.
Born Cynthia Albritton on May 24, 1947, she began her rock career as a plaster artist while living in Chicago in 1968. After meeting Frank Zappa, who found her art concept both humorous and creative (although he did not participate in it), Albritton found something of a patron in him. He drew her to Los Angeles – a gold mine for her art direction – where she found several willing assistants to help her prepare the subjects for her work.
In 1971, after their apartment was robbed, Zappa and Albritton decided that the casts should be preserved for a future display and entrusted them to Zappa’s business and legal partner, Herb Cohen. However, the artists declined to participate in the exhibition and she made no casts between 1971 and 1980. In a surreal situation, she had to go to court in 1993 to get back the 25 casts she left with Cohen; eventually she got all but three back.
Eventually, in 2000, Albritton held her first exhibition of the casts in New York, expanding her reach to include women’s breasts.
Her career was immortalized in the 2001 documentary Plaster Caster and she also took part in the 2005 BBC documentary My Penis and I, directed by filmmaker Lawrence Barraclough about his fear of the size of his penis.
She has been praised on many rock songs – including Kiss’ “Plaster Caster” – and a television talk between her and the Frank Zappa-sponsored group The GTOs was recorded on their 1969 album Permanent Damage.
In an intriguing career turn, Albritton unsuccessfully ran for Chicago mayor in 2010 — on the “hard party” ticket, of course.
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