Los Angeles-based artist Esao Andrews describes the huge mural he just completed at the Long Beach Convention Center. Video by Asia Morris.

With the Long Beach Convention Center’s ongoing effort to activate some of the campus’ less colorful spaces, artist Esao Andrews was brought in to paint a gigantic mural across the entrances to Exhibit Halls A, B and C, which took him just under three weeks to complete. Steve Goodling, President & CEO of the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, met Andrews in 2015 at the Long Beach Museum of Art, where the artist was painting a mural for the museum’s Vitality & Verve series in collaboration with POW! WOW! Long Beach.

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“I loved his work and felt that it could elevate what used to be a very cavernous, dark hallway adjacent to Bogarts leading into the Exhibit Halls,” Goodling said.

This piece, with its “Jack and the Beanstalk” vibe, is an extension of that idea Andrews painted at the museum four years ago, bringing a butterfly’s life cycle to the attention of the thousands of people who visit the Convention Center every year; the concept that beauty is fleeting and something to be appreciated.

Andrews walks you through the mural in this next video from the Hi-lo.