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Cynthia Plaster Caster

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Cynthia Plaster Caster (born Cynthia Albritton on May 24, 1947) is an American artist and self-described "recovering groupie" who creates plaster casts of famous persons' breasts and erect penises.

Albritton began her career in 1968 by casting penises of rock musicians. She later expanded her subjects to include filmmakers and other types of artists. By 2000 she had begun casting female artists' breasts.

Biography

Albritton was born in Chicago, Illinois.[1]

Shy as a young girl, Albritton sought out a way to make contact with the opposite sex. In the late-1960s she became caught up in free love and rock music. In college, when her art teacher gave the class an assignment to "plaster cast something solid that could retain its shape", her idea to use the assignment as a lure to entice rock stars to have sex with her became a hit, even before she made a cast of anyone's genitalia. Finding a dental mold-making substance called alginate to be sufficient, she found her first client in Jimi Hendrix, the first of many to submit to the idea.[2]

Meeting Frank Zappa, who found the concept of "casting" both humorous and creative as an art form, though he himself never submitted to the procedure, Albritton found in him something of a patron. He moved her to Los Angeles, which she described as a veritable groupie heaven, with no lack of assistants. Together, Zappa and Albritton conceived an idea of preserving the casts of musicians for a future exhibition, entrusting them to his partner, Herb Cohen, for safekeeping. This idea never took off, due to a lack of famous rock stars as participants. A movie was made of Albritton and her celebrity grew. However, she found herself having to file a lawsuit to retrieve the casts.[3][4] In 2000, she decided to cast women's breasts as well.[5]

A film documentary, Plaster Caster (2001), has been made about her. She also contributed to the BBC Three documentary My Penis and I (2005), made by British filmmaker Lawrence Barraclough about his anxiety over his 9 cm erect penis.[6] She has inspired at least two songs: "Five Short Minutes" by Jim Croce and "Plaster Caster" by Kiss. She is also mentioned in Momus' song "The Penis Song" on his album Folktronic and the Le Tigre song "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo".[7]

In 2010, Albritton ran for mayor of Chicago, Illinois.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia (October 31, 2010). "Cynthia Plaster Caster Runs for Chicago Mayor", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Cynthia Plaster Caster: Art with Staying Power, a Salon interview
  3. ^ Philips, Chuck (April 13, 1993). "Plaster Caster Lawsuit Set for Court Wednesday". L.A. Times. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  4. ^ Wallechinsky, David (2006). The book of lists: the original compendium of curious information. et al. (Canadian ed.). Toronto: Seal Books. pp. 355–356. ISBN 9780307366177.
  5. ^ Albritton, Cynthia official website The Long and the Short of It Retrieved September 20, 2008 Requires Flash
  6. ^ "Has your penis been short-changed?". Metro. October 3, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  7. ^ This Island (Media notes). Le Tigre. Universal Records. 2004.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ Costello, Brian (November 4, 2010). "Q&A with Mayoral Candidate Cynthia Plaster Caster", Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
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