A major tenant of the Women’s Movement is 'the personal is the political' - This concept has influenced all of my art production and certainly the content of my 20 minute documentary video, 'The Brothel, The Temple and Art.'
I also take 'the personal' to mean the unconscious desires and actions of the human psyche. My current sculptures 'The Death Toys: The SUV Generation' both mock and ward off our more primitive behavior such as domestic and animal abuse, road rage, gang warfare, stray bullets and all the current strife in modern American life. The Toys represent Art as Personal Protection. To further extend the metaphor I often take several of the 'Toys' to public venues and have 'Drive By Shows' for whomever turns up at commuter routes and at parks and beaches.
My work is influenced by my ancestors, The Feminists, Goya, Picasso, Miro, Duchamp and many others in the Art Historical Record, as well as various contemporary authors and film makers.
Anthropomorphism, sculpture "Hummer", Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL - 2006
Death Toys, solo show, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL - Solo Show. Featured Artist and Juror, "Documentation" group exhibition, 2003
Censorship, sculpture "The Patient", Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL - 2001
Death Toys, Steppenwoif Theatre (Mother Courage), Chicago, IL - 2001
Drive By, exhibition of recent works, Around the Coyote Arts Festival, Chicago, IL - 2001
Drive By, exhibition of recent works, Montrose Harbor, Chicago, IL - 2001
Drive By, exhibition of recent works, Illinois Masonic Hospital Emergency Entrance, Chicago, IL - 2001
Death Matters, exhibition of new 'Death Toys: The SUV Generation', Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI - 2000
Group Exhibition, 'The Plant' from the 'Death Toy' series, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL - 2000
Death Toys, solo exhibition, BC Space Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA - 1994
Twenty 'Drive By' street shows at various Los Angeles locations, 1985-1995
Death Toys, solo exhibition, S.I.T.E. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA - 1994
Group Exhibition, juried by Lucy Lippard, 'The Car, first of new 'Death Toys', The Woman’s Building Gallery, Los Angeles, CA - 1984
Chicago Reader, Fred Camper makes the 'Shoe Bombs' a Critic’s Choice from the Death Toys Solo Show at Woman Made Gallery 2003.
Chicago Reader, 'The Horse' photographed for Steppenwoif Theatre show, 2001.
Exposures: Women & Their Art, critic Arlene Raven describes Van Syoc’s 'Drive By' street shows as 'Roadside Attractions' appropriate to the LA environment, 1995.
High Performance Magazine, Issue 39, critic Terry Wolverton describes Van Syoc’s 'Drive By' show at Venice Beach, CA, 1987.
Grand Rapids Press and Alternative Energy Magazine, Professor Van Syoc and art students complete an alternative energy project, 'The Windmill as a Variation on Stonehenge', 1975-1976.
