Anais Dasse’s powerful mixed media works Kids Are Terrible People Too and The Daughter were among the highlights of this year’s Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center.

The artist, a native of Bayonne, France, now living in Arkansas, has a much-anticipated solo exhibition at Boswell Mourot Fine Art. And it does not disappoint.

Dasse’s works — which can include gesso, charcoal, pencil, collage and oil on paper — are unsettling, but compelling pieces that embrace tribal-inspired patterns and symbols, references to the South’s religion and culture, American pop culture, literary allusions and more. It’s a sort of Lord of the Flies, somewhat primal/fever dream vision that works because of her skillful technique and an unfolding, thoughtful narrative that links these works.

The children and young adults she depicts live as feral creatures in nature. Often they have a sort of deer-in-the-headlights gaze as Dasse uses light to illuminate this hidden culture and its activities. Her work can be seen from a number of perspectives as Dasse walks the line that borders reality, imagination, the dreamtime, the natural world and points in between. Because some hold guns, one can’t help but think of this region’s gun culture, the child soldiers of war and children displaced and damaged by conflict.

Among the standouts are The Wedding, a 46-by-46-inch work of two young ones holding hands; the female has a pistol, pointing toward the ground. They are surrounded by herons and stunningly illuminated by vivid white light. In The Watcher, a girl, surrounded by owls, holds a rifle. The owls, like the other creatures in these works, are unafraid. Clearly, a bonding exists. One that most in our culture have lost.

The artist, who has also been a scientific illustrator, has created an imagined world that mesmerizes as it challenges the viewer on artistic, spiritual and intellectual levels.

– Kody Ford, 2016
http://idleclassmag.com/boswell-mourot-fine-art-hosting-works-anais-dasse/

Anais Dasse has two works in the Delta: The Daughter and Kids Are Terrible People Too. Both pieces are on a continuum, and have shared elements that make them read as a pair. Dasse’s work is haunting, eloquent, exquisitely made.
In The Daughter, a figure is gazing off scene wearing what appears to be a native parka. Two deer have nestled down near. Then the viewer notices another deer. Along with the cover of foliage, it forms shelter, standing over the daughter and two deer. All three deer look out toward the viewer. Deer caught in the headlights. Both of these Dasse works are filled with symbols. At first glance, there is a familiarity about them. The viewer strains to classify: the chalk or white paint markings on the daughter’s parka and three deer: a North American tribe? South or Central American? Mexican? The upper deer is marked with a series of crosses; the lower left deer is marked with an intricate star burst; and the lower right deer is marked with what might be a map—dashes leading to where X marks the spot. A closer look reveals, more accurately long guns, AK47s? With multi-round magazines? The dashes, or pathways of a “map,” are pathways of bullets. The X that marks the spot becomes a target.
In Dasse’s Kids Are Terrible People Too, a traditional cockfight is in play. One kid wears a bird-like mask with an Aztec-like design. Another figure is marked with Dasse’s French “tribal” symbol, the fleur-de-lis. She was born in France and now lives in Little Rock, AR. Emphasizing the connection to The Daughter are more firearms. One kid’s chest and arms are marked with handgun designs expelling gently floating rounds. They echo the round marbles, presumably used as betting marks, strewed around
the cockfighting space. Another kid, face-painted in a quasi-Apache manner, gently holds its fighting cock, ready for the ring. Two central figures—a child dressed in black and a black cock—stare directly at the viewer. Deer caught in the headlights. Dasse’s artist statement can be read at www.anaisdasse.com/about. She has a shape-shifting approach to her story telling and a professional background to go with it.

– Carolyn Furnish, 2016
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c23af25b10598b1a9e193f4/t/5c2ea1ad8a922d8f0fe81947/1546559934690/No-87.pdf