Ben Long Fresco - TransAmerica Dome

The fresco was painted in March 1998 using ancient 15th-century techniques, which Ben Long acquired during his 9-year apprenticeship in Florence, Italy. It covers a surface area of 1,047 square feet (97 m²) and measures 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter with a circumference of 88 feet (27 meters).

Rebirth is portrayed as a peaceful and happy beach scene painted in bright colors with the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse appearing to guide the way to the beginning of this endless cycle.

Ben Long in his fresco seems to describe life’s ups and downs, successes and failures, good luck and misfortune as a continuous cycle of disintegration and rebirth. The group on the right appears to reach out to a rope tied to a tree connecting them to rebirth.

The painter at the easel is a self-portrait of Ben Long himself.

The TransAmerica Square features a stunning fresco, titled Continuum by Ben Long. It is located in the dome of a rotunda, which is part of an open-air public archway from Tryon Street to the back courtyard. The fresco depicts “the cycle of life’s continuous disintegration and rebirth.”

Ben Long uses his family, colleagues, and friends as models for some of the faces in his frescos. Here he captured his wife and four sons.

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n Transamerica Square, Ben Long’s first dome painting, “Continuum,” includes several faces and important symbols of North Carolina, including former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl.