By Peter Tonguette / For The Columbus Dispatch
Posted Apr 28, 2019 at 4:46 AM

Art Access Gallery owner Barb Unverferth first encountered the delightfully playful mixed-media works of Dayton artist Darren Haper about three years ago.

“Immediately, I thought his work was most interesting,” Unverferth said.

In works at once carefree and deliberate, Haper evokes the experiments with shapes and colors sometimes seen in the doodlings of a young child.

Unverferth was interested in representing Haper’s work alone, but she eventually learned that he was not the only exciting talent working in Dayton. Along with Mike Elsass and John Sousa, Haper creates his pieces in a now-defunct envelope factory in downtown Dayton.

“They all kind of work together and help each other,” Unverferth said. “I said to them, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we did a show for all three of you guys at the same time?’ ”

The trio is the subject of an excitingly eclectic exhibit at Art Access. “The Dayton Connection: New Work by Mike Elsass, Darren Haper and John Sousa” is on view through May 30 at the Bexley gallery.

Haper’s childlike style is boldly apparent in “Wait Till They See What I Can Do,” in which hands, fingers and several pairs of googly eyes stand out amid a chaotic background of multicolored scribblings. True to the artist’s aims, the work calls to mind a piece of paper on which a child has drawn — and re-drawn, and re-drawn.

Similar forms can be discerned in Haper’s “I Must Be Greatly Intriguing.” In this work, various sets of eyeballs appear to be observing a wide array of shapes and forms, including zigzagging lines, purple blobs and the numbers “1″ and “9.”

At a glance

• “The Dayton Connection: New Work by Mike Elsass, Darren Haper and John Sousa” continues through May 30 at Art Access Gallery, 540 S. Drexel Ave., Bexley. Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For information, call 614-338-8325 or visit www.artaccessgallery.com.

Meanwhile, “Chasing the Scuttlebut” is one of the artist’s most kinetic offerings, with a strong sense of movement expressed through what looks to be a bended knee — suggesting, perhaps, a runner jogging — depicted among the joyous jumble.

No less abstract, but considerably more minimalist, are pieces by Sousa, whose work features smatterings of seemingly random text and graphics. In “Fun-DoDa,” for example, the clip art-like images include several rows of identical smiling clowns, fat purple type reading “fun” and curving green type reading “do da.” Other pieces by the artist present everything from ladybugs to a coil of wire.

More contemplative is the work of Elsass, whose color-filled paintings are an exhibit highlight. The artist places acrylic paint on sheets of steel that have been purposely allowed to rust; the interaction between the paint and rust creates dazzling colors.

Elsass’ “Landscape I,” for example, offers a horizon in which the blue of the sky above seems to flow into the green of the surface below. Works in the series “Indian Lake Summer” suggest the many ways in which a body of water can be painted; the first piece in the series, “Indian Lake Summer I,” presents the muddy, boggy bottom the lake.

Most impressive, perhaps, is Elsass’ “Totems,” in which nine thin strips of steel are affixed to a gallery wall. Each strip is painted in rows of alternately cloudy and vivid colors; no single color dominates any given strip.

On the basis of their consistently inventive and innovative creations, the three Dayton artists ought to book a return trip to central Ohio soon.