Privates on parade: plaster cast artist and groupie made rock stars her models
In the late 1960s, Cynthia Albritton was a self-proclaimed ‘‘goofy young art student from Chicago’’ whose mission in life was to ‘‘get laid by cute British boys with long hair and tight pants’’.
The problem was that Albritton, who has died aged 74, did not look or act the part. As she hung around Chicago’s best hotels waiting for a glimpse of the Rolling Stones or other visiting rock dignitaries, she cast envious glances at the other more nubile and experienced ‘‘groupies’’ and didn’t rate her chances.
‘‘The only way I could go about getting the zippers down was a funny, goofy art way and I discovered that way when my art teacher told me to make a plaster cast of something solid that could retain its shape,’’ she recalled. ‘‘I’d heard through the grapevine that penises get solid although I had yet to see that happen.’’
The next band to gig in Chicago were Paul Revere and the Raiders and, having gatecrashed the after-party, Albritton talked about her art project to Mark Lindsay, the lead singer. ‘‘He was happy to help me with my homework assignment, but sand and water were not conducive. More important was that I lost my virginity tomark Lindsay as a result of talking about it.’’
Word spread quickly in the rock fraternity that there was a groupie with a singular artistic talent at the Chicago end of their tour. Sure enough, when Jimi Hendrix emerged from the city’s Conrad Hilton in February 1968, Albritton and her friend Diane Plater pushed themselves to the front and said, ‘‘Hi Jimi, we’re the plaster casters.’’ Hendrix nodded: ‘‘Yeah, I heard about you somewhere in the cosmos. Come on up and let’s do it.’’
By then Albritton had mastered her technique on ‘‘civilians’’. She would open a suitcase to produce amartini shaker, which she filled with a dental mould. Timing was everything. Before the mould set, Hendrix was invited to make an impression. The cavity he left behind would presently be filled with plaster.
Albritton found Hendrix ‘‘stoned and mellow’’ and thus one of her easiest clients. But then, she remarked, he had nothing to be ashamed of. Her diary entry noted: ‘‘Hendrix. Conrad Hilton. Room 1628. February 25, 1968. Hendrix has got just about the biggest rig I’ve ever seen. We needed to plunge him through the entire depth of the vase.’’
By now known as Cynthia Plaster Caster, the conceptual artist was befriended by avantgarde rocker Frank Zappa. Under his patronage, she moved to Los Angeles, where there was a greater abundance of rock subjects. Over three years she amassed some 50 casts, including the private parts of the British singer-songwriter Anthony Newley.
Some got away. The appendage of Eric
Cynthia Plaster Caster
conceptual artist b May 24, 1947 d April 21, 2022
Burdon, lead singer of the British blues group the Animals, was not cast for posterity as a result of ‘‘mould failure’’. Meanwhile, Wayne Kramer, guitarist of MC5, and Peter Tork of the Monkees entered the Martini shaker fractionally too late and, with the mould already setting, failed to make an adequate impression.
She dealt with more fragile egos. Some had delusions of grandeur and were not impressed when presented with the reality of her handiwork. Clearly, Hendrix was a tough act to follow.
Cynthia and her assistant plaster caster Plater gainedwider recognition in the rock magazine Rolling Stone’s ‘‘Groupies’’ issue in 1969, where they were celebrated along with the likes of Pamela Des Barres and ‘‘Miss Mercy’’. Zappa was quoted: ‘‘Sociologically it’s really heavy. People put up statues to honour war heroes. The Plaster Casters do the same thing for pop stars.’’ Zappa, though, refused his own personal statuary. ‘‘They asked me, of course, but it just wasn’t for me.’’
Unsurprisingly, Plaster Caster was often frowned upon by the bra-burning feminists of the era, but she also had her supporters among the sisterhood, including the writer Camille Paglia, who said: ‘‘Feminists at the time took a very dim view ofwhat Cynthia Plaster Casterwas doing. They assumed it was degrading. I thought it was quite the opposite.’’
Cynthia Albritton was born an only child in Chicago and raised in a religious household on the South Side in Greater Grand Crossing. Her mother was a secretary and her father a postal clerk. She attended South Shorehigh School and, by the time shewas studying art at the University of Illinois, she had seen the Beatles and the Stones.
In 1971 she entrusted her cast collection to the music executive Herb Cohen, an associate of Zappa, for safekeeping. By then it was clear that her speciality had had its day. She faded into obscurity until 1993, when she took Cohen to court because, as a result of a dispute with Zappa, he would not return her collection.
She won her case and 22 of the 25 casts were returned. She never found out what happened to the other three.
Plaster Caster, who it appeared never married or had children, told the Los Angeles Times that the castswere her family: ‘‘It isn’t just a fight over art. It’s more like a child custody battle. These things aren’t just pieces of plaster to me – they’re like my children. Each one holds precious memories for me.’’
The case sparked a revival of interest, and in 2000 her collection was exhibited in New York City. A documentary, Plaster Caster, was made about her life and a new generation of musicians lined up for casting, including Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks. She also began casting women’s breasts. Among those whose bosoms were preserved for posterity were Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab.
Meanwhile, she founded the Cynthia Plaster Caster Foundation and began selling plaster of paris reproductions of her work to raisemoney for up-and-coming musicians. Hendrix’s cast, at US$1500, was a bestseller.
After a fall in January 2021, Plaster Caster moved to a nursing home, surrounded by her life’s work. ‘‘They’re my sweet babies and I’m theirmamma and I don’t want to play favourites,’’ she said. – The Times
‘‘These things aren’t just pieces of plaster to me – they’re like my children. Each one holds precious memories for me.’’