Artist and legendary rock personality Cynthia Plaster Caster has died after battling a long illness.
Born as Cynthia Albritton on May 24, 1947, she became known for creating plaster casts of the erect penises of famous people. By the end of her career, the self-described “recovering” groupie sculpted a collection of 50 plaster penises from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Wayne Kramer of MC5, and Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks.
Later, Plaster Caster would expand her catalog to also include casts of breasts from musicians like Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Sally Timms of The Mekons, and Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
She was a longtime friend of Frank Zappa, who told Plaster Caster that after her Los Angeles apartment was robbed in 1971, to preserve her work for a future exhibition.
In 2000, Plaster Caster finally held her first exhibit of the plaster penises in New York City. She soon began to sculpt breasts as well. The songs “Five Short Minutes” by Jim Croce and “Plaster Caster” by KISS are both inspired by and immortalize her. She is also mentioned in Momus’ “The Penis Song” on his album Folktronic and the Le Tigre song “Nanny Nanny Boo Boo.” In 2001, she was the subject of a documentary titled Plaster Caster.
In 2010, she ran for mayor of Chicago on the “Hard Party” ticket.
