I have more new and upcoming games from Origins Game Fair 2026 to write about, but today we're checking out non-games seen during the convention, starting with the Art Makes Columbus initiative that places art in many public spaces, from mini-galleries at the airport to building murals to works posted throughout the Greater Columbus Convention Center to sculptures about town.
The image above, for example, is an untitled work by Pheoris West in the Convention Center that's labeled "cut paper collage", although clearly it's also a painting. Maybe that's assumed and therefore left off the accompanying label. Here are a few other works in that same location:
"Chroma", by Laura Alexander — created with hand-cut paper and acrylic paint"Subtle Rhythms Uniting Diverse Lives", by Brian Jones — acrylic on canvas"Transition", by Christie Foxworthy — ink on paper
In case it's not clear, I'm a sucker for what might be described as "disrupted patterns", although when disruption is an integral part of the work, that disruption is also an aspect of the pattern...and yet "enough" of a pattern must exist in order for it to be disrupted. Creating that balance is in the hands of the artist; appreciating that balance is in the mind of the viewer.
"Columbus Boogie Woogie – The Dance Continues", by Jeanie Coy Auseon — screen printing, painting on silk"MoonSugar", by Tyler Bohm — mixed media on plexiglass
Columbus features dozens of murals, but I was walking in the rain, riding in a car, eating, or otherwise unable to take photos of them, leaving me with only this one shot of a trilogy of images — collectively "HOPE | UNITY | RESILIENCY", with the images relaying a brief story. I love the treatment of the lettering, with you being able to read it across as a thick, solid presence or read it "down" as a dynamic 3D space. (The other two murals were partly blocked by convention displays.)
I did take pics while walking the town — just not of murals:
Love the irony of part of "the existent" disrupting this message, highlighting its fruitless and impossible goalHow do you gain immortality? By making your mark on something no one cares about, and therefore will leave untouchedThis feels like a punctuation joke from The Simpsons: "Goodwill? No, fuck ICE! Stop!"This house felt like an entry point for another world, separate from all the other houses nearbyThe view from the front porch of my hostel. How would you know you're in Columbus, Ohio? Look at the wiki password: muckfichiganIf you're celiac and looking for food at Origins, hit up Biscuits by Daddy-O; you cannot tell the biscuits are GF, which is a rare blessingWalked forty minutes from downtown to The Book Loft of German Village, forgetting that it features remainders, not used books. Phooey. Still, I found something...Every building holds a story should you stop to look. Signs help, of course, as with this one for The Merry Makers Club, which turns 100 in 2026Is this a trap?! Why else would you place a building's EMERGENCY DISCONNECT lever so prominently?David Skywalker?! What's his story all about?One of.a series of public artworks at Columbus State Community College, with metal cleaving stone in various ways; I didn't spot a labelWas amused to find a dada tag on the street as that seemed appropriately random...then I remembered "dada" meant something else as well."Waiting for the bus to the airport...Back home, I let Katniss Evermeow check out the berries I took off the bushes behind our house; this is the second year for these plants, and we should plant more...
