VZ Rewind: Cynthia Plaster Caster

We first interviewed this artist, best known for her molds of private parts of public figures, in our spring 2003 issue. Now she's running for mayor of Chicago!

By Laura Marie Braun
Published: January 17th, 2011 | 12:00am

Legendary groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster is best known for her plaster molds of rock royalty wangs like that of Jimi Hendrix, but she is hoping to change that. When Venus Zine interviewed her back in 2003, she laughed about her future casting prospects, “…It could be a politician someday, but not currently, I don’t think.”

Eight years later, Ms. Plaster Caster’s political aspirations now reach beyond the dental mold. In October 2010, she announced her run for Mayor of Chicago. Hoping to take over for the famed Richard M. Daley, Cynthia’s campaign doesn’t exactly shy away from her own infamous past, dubbing herself “The Hard Party” and peddling buttons with slogans like “Erect Cynthia Plaster Caster”—which, The Huffington Post called “the best campaign buttons, ever.”

Cynthia's campaign buttons, by Busy Beaver Button Co.

Absolutely aware of the field day the press is ready to have with her, Cynthia has beat them to the punch with tongue-in-cheek penis jokes and puns. Her Facebook page is littered with pictures of phallic buildings, while her official website features penises that literally splooge information about “Upcumming events”. It’s difficult to say who the joke will really be on, but The Economist has listed her as an official candidate—not an easy feat for girl who grew up in what she describes as, “a dysfunctional working class family, the only child of a horny alcoholic father and a strict conservative mother.”

Slowly, but surely, Cynthia Plaster Caster has managed to prove herself in various ways. In 2009, she was awarded the first ever Rob Pruitt Award in a star-studded ceremony held at the Guggenheim—a long way from the seedy dressing rooms where her career started. Complete with her own write-up in the New York Times, Cynthia’s babies, as she calls them, have finally received the recognition she has so badly wanted them to have all these years. In a statement, Cynthia said of the event, “One of the highlights for me was watching Kylie Minogue running away from the Jimi Hendrix cast dangling in her face!”

At 63 years young, she’s still honing her craft, loving rock ‘n roll and selling replicas of her babies for around $2,000 a dick (or tit—she’s also casted the peaches of Peaches, not to mention the titias of Laetitia Sadier). She’s also the founder of the Cynthia P Caster Foundation, which raises money for artists and musicians in financial need.

Fans of the legendary band lover will be thrilled to know that she is in the midst of writing her memoirs and she promises “lotsa juicy untold tales going back to the very beginning.”

For now, though, her focus is paying homage to her beloved hometown by pledging change. “In Chicago, we've been dealing with the Dick Daley regime for decades. If elected Mayor, I will continue to deal with dicks on a daily basis. And I still intend on casting the dicks and tits of talented people—excluding other politicians!”