Watch: Cynthia Albritton Dead at 74; Rose to Fame Creating Plaster Casts of Celebrity Penises

Cynthia Albritton, who became famous for making plaster casts of male recording artists' erect penises, has died at age 74, Pitchfork reported.

Known as Cynthia Plaster Caster, Albritton made casts of musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Jello Biafra, the article detailed.

Albritton was inspired to begin making celebrity castings while in art school, Pitchfork recalled. Given an assignment to create a plaster cast, the then-20-year-old music aficionado was inspired to make art from "the frontmen of her favorite rock bands," Pitchfork recounted. "Specifically, their penises."

The work was boundary-pushing enough to catch the attention of Frank Zappa, who promoted Albritton's efforts (though he did not contribute to them personally). Predictably, her choice of medium was not without its humorous aspects.

Pitchfork remembered how "Albritton cast two members of the MC5: Wayne Kramer, and drummer Dennis Thompson. Unfortunately, Kramer's plaster mixture was botched."

"'It set before he could push his dick all the way into the mold – only the head got in,' Albritton told the Chicago Reader in 2002." The artist added: "Wayne quite literally got the shaft."

"She started her career by making a cast using a dental mold-making substance called alginate, which solidified around the subject's member and then slipped off as the participant, er, 'cooled off,'" Deadline said.

The New York Post explained how in 1971, following a break-in and robbery of her home, Albritton entrusted her collection – numbering 25 casts at the time – to "Zappa's business and legal partner, Herb Cohen," with the idea of keeping them safe for an exhibition at some future date. Due to reluctance on the part of the casting subjects, however, a years-long "casting hiatus," followed by a legal battle for the collection, ensued.

The collection was eventually restored (except for three pieces), and having grown to twice its earlier size, Albritton finally managed to have her first exhibition in 2000. By then, her oeuvre had been set in...not plaster, but vinyl, in a song called "Plaster Caster" that appeared on the 1977 KISS album "Love Gun."

Albritton's work was the subject of a 2001 documentary, "Plaster Caster."

To watch the New York Post clip, follow this link.