Land of Tomorrow gallery opens the second installment of its summer El Campo de Mañana series tonight with an appearance by noted rock groupie Cynthia Plastercaster to open an exhibit of her work. The artist, who has been casting in plaster the (Not Safe For Work) body parts of rock stars for decades, will host a storytelling evening with a Q&A to follow at the Broadway gallery.The first installment of El Campo de Mañana included "Ripped," an exhibit of vintage rock and roll t-shirts and a performance by Lydia Lunch. This is usually a slower season for the gallery, says guest curator Cesar Padilla (who personally curated the "Ripped" exhibit from his own collection), so he took the challenge to liven up summer programming. “The theme was sort of a liberation, sexual freedom, freedom in general, and sort of outsiders,” says Padilla. Cynthia Plastercaster's notable models include Jimi Hendrix, Jello Biafra, and the MC5's Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson. Though widely photographed and chronicled in rock journalism pages, she rarely shows her collection in public – this exhibit is only her fourth in 40 years. Her body of work now includes body casts of female stars, including Peaches and Stereolab's Laeticia Sadier. The pieces will be candle-lit for the exhibit. Her talk begins at 7 p.m. tonight ($25, 18+). El Campo de Mañana Part II also includes Paul Zone's “Growing Up in the New York Underground, 1971-1977,” which chronicles the groundbreaking New York City music scene. The exhibit is a preview of sorts of a book the photographer will publish next year. "There’s photos of Iggy Pop, Blondie, Patti Smith, Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry solo, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Marc Boland," says Padilla. "Pretty amazing stuff, and he’s only shown them a couple of times in his life." Showing alongside are an exhibit of prints by Louisville photographer Sarah Lyon, a collection of vintage motorcycle gang vests curated by bronze motorcycle model sculptor Jeff Decker, an exhibit of t-shirts from the Sexual Revolution and Art Miller's "Habana Series," a selection of black-and-white photographs taken at the Habana Inn, a gay resort in Oklahoma City. Internationally-exhibited video artist Martynka Wawrzyniak's "Chocolate,"which depicts the artist being covered in chocolate, rounds out the show. Zone and Decker will lead tours of their exhibits on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The show runs through September 7 at Land of Tomorrow (233 W. Broadway).
