A Monument on Canvas: WanJean’s “Mountain Top” at Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery
- The Concrete Rose Project
- Jan 19
- 3 min read
On January 15, 2026, the walls of Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery in Long Beach CA, bore witness to something far greater than an art installation. They received a 12-foot sculptural painting on canvas—a towering, reverent tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—entitled “Mountain Top.”Standing beside it, the artist WanJean appears almost in conversation with history itself, her presence grounding the moment in humility, purpose, and legacy.
Curator’s Review: Mountain Top
WanJean’s Mountain Top is not merely representational—it is declarative.
Dr. King is rendered in a commanding vertical composition, his arm raised in prophetic motion, his figure emerging from shadow into light. The American flag unfurls behind him, not as ornamentation, but as contested terrain—symbolizing both the promise of democracy and the unfinished moral work he demanded of it.
The scale alone transforms the work into an experience. At twelve feet tall, the painting reads as a contemporary monument, echoing the gravitas of public statuary while retaining the intimacy and emotional texture only hand-rendered art can convey. The sculptural treatment of King’s form—heavy with motion, weight, and gravity—feels as if it could step forward off the canvas at any moment.
The title Mountain Top draws unmistakably from Dr. King’s final speech, delivered the night before his assassination. WanJean does not romanticize the moment; instead, she captures its solemn clarity. This is not the King of soundbites. This is the King of moral resolve—of sacrifice, inevitability, and unfinished work.
The work commands stillness. It invites reflection. It insists on presence.
It is not a painting you glance at.
It is a painting you stand before.
WanJean: The Artist Behind the Monument
WanJean’s work has always lived at the intersection of spiritual depth, cultural memory, and social responsibility. Her artistic practice is rooted in storytelling—particularly stories too often flattened, erased, or commodified.
Across her body of work, she returns consistently to themes of:
Liberation
Resilience
Divine feminine power
Ancestral memory
Sacred Black identity
Her approach is not merely aesthetic—it is ethical.
Through her involvement with The Concrete Rose Project, WanJean has helped pioneer a new model of community-centered cultural placemaking. Her art has become a bridge between creative expression and civic engagement, activating public spaces, catalyzing dialogue, and restoring dignity to narratives long marginalized.
She has collaborated with:
City officials
Local business owners
Nonprofit leaders
Arts institutions
Community organizers
Together, these partnerships have transformed walls into memorials, galleries into sanctuaries, and neighborhoods into living museums of cultural affirmation.
WanJean’s work does not live only in galleries.
It lives in communities.
Community Impact & Civic Partnerships
WanJean’s artistic footprint across Long Beach and Los Angeles County reflects a deeper civic mission: art as infrastructure for healing, memory, and unity.
Her collaborations with:
city cultural affairs offices
economic development initiatives
wellness institutions
local entrepreneurs
and grassroots arts coalitions
have positioned her not just as an artist, but as a cultural architect—someone who understands how creative work can uplift neighborhoods, support small businesses, and reframe public space as shared sacred ground.
The installation of Mountain Top at Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery continues this legacy, situating fine art within a wellness-centered environment where reflection, restoration, and dialogue coexist.
A Historic Placement at Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery
That Mountain Top was installed on January 15th—Dr. King’s birthday—is no coincidence. The date imbues the work with ceremonial significance, transforming the installation into a quiet act of remembrance.
By featuring Mountain Top, Greg Johnson has not only elevated a monumental artwork—he has honored a legacy, amplified a living artist’s voice, and reaffirmed Blu’s role as a guardian of meaningful cultural expression.
Closing Reflection
WanJean’s “Mountain Top” stands as both tribute and testimony.
It honors a man who stood on history’s edge and declared that he had seen the promised land. It reflects an artist who continues that vision through creative truth-telling. And it lives now in a gallery that understands art not as decoration, but as duty.
This is not just a painting.
It is a proclamation.
It is a memorial.
It is a call forward.
Art. Culture. Legacy.
— The Concrete Rose Project
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