The unique artist Cynthia Albritton, who was famed for her unusual craft of making casts of rock stars’ private parts out of plaster, passed away yesterday (April 21) after struggling with a long-term health illness, aged 74.
She would describe herself as a “recovering groupie” and was well known among the music and film industries, and has even been an inspiration for songs by rock band Kiss and the subject of documentaries for her unusual artistic legacy.
Cynthia, who was born in Chicago in 1947, made her first famous plaster cast of Jimi Hendrix’s phallus, who agreed to participate in the project while on tour in the windy city in 1968.
Her interest in plaster casting was initially sparked while attending art school in the 1960s when she was set an assignment to create a plaster cast of “something solid that could retain its shape”.
She started using a dental mould which would solidify around the object and would be removed once the object’s size had reduced.
(Image: Getty Images)
She also made casts of the Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley and Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Baifra, before venturing on to make casts of female artists’ breasts including Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, and Peaches and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The artist befriended Frank Zappa, and while he did not participate in the artwork himself, he supported her and her artistic concept by becoming a patron, as Cynthia set her sights on setting up her own museum of casts.
(Image: Redferns)
Moving to Los Angeles, Cynthia continued her work, but unfortunately her apartment was broken into so she decided to hand more than 12 casts to Zappa’s legal partner, Herb Cohen, who was supposed to protect the work from being robbed so Cynthia could eventually set up her own exhibit.
However, Herb kept Cynthia’s treasured casts for several years which resulted in many court appearances as she battled to get her artwork back.
She was finally able to host her very own exhibit in 2000, showcasing more than 50 plaster penises, which was hosted in New York city, which followed with a BBC documentary in 2005 called My Penis and I.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
