JISBAR in Space 👽🚀

-Trevor H Smith

Art transcends the human experience. It illuminates the dark. It uplifts the weary. It educates and it takes, only a moment from us to appreciate the hours, days, weeks that a piece can take. May it be visual, or auditory — its as the very senses we have been gifted ; were adorned for the arts.

JISBAR is in my top picks for artist in the visual space. He is known around the world , even within the spaces that Eden holds , Dubai, NYC, Miami and beyond. He has been featured in San Francisco around Super Bowl. Around Vegas for Formula 1. Around Detroit for a billboard series installation.

Wherever you see JISBAR’s work for the first time. You’ll never forget it. From the hidden positive mantras, to the fusion of classical and contemporary, and the elements of urban art – share a soul of creativity that echoes through the ethers.

Surely, talent like this – you would figure to be self aware and pompous. Honestly though- a really cool guy. A dude that worked his butt off to break through into the art scene. I see a very deserving, humble artist that gets the just recognition and attention he deserves. I took a call with JISBAR a few months ago when he was doing an event in Vegas. He’s so down to earth. He’s got great energy and passion for flexing that creative muscle. A spark – that I’m sure brightens a room. Although he lives in Europe and grew up around France – his English is awesome and he’s very easy to talk to. Really looking forward to seeing him.

I learned today though, that such a down to earth artist has otherworldly talent. An art piece truly ‘out of this world’ so to speak – no pun intended. He’s been marked as one of the first if not the only artist to have launched their work into space. With an immersive exhibit in Hong Kong to show you the full details.

If you lust for travel and you like the fine arts, I’d strongly suggest following the great JISBAR. It seems like everywhere he turns, there is such a wonderful reason to look at what he’s doing.

Follow him on all the socials, his content is actually super good and he’s always on the cutting edge.

Here’s the scoop, courtesy of his team:

JISBAR : THE PUNK MONA THAT TRAVELLED TO SPACE NOW AT THE HEART OF THE LOUVRE AND GRAND PALAIS IMMERSIF’S LANDMARK IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION IN HONG KONG

The French pop-street art pioneer’s work enters the story of the Mona Lisa, and takes centre stage at one of the most ambitious institutional exhibitions of the year

Paris / Hong Kong, May 2026 – Years ago, French artist, JISBAR, achieved something no artist had ever done before: he sent his « Punk Mona », a bold reinterpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, 33.4 kilometres above Earth, into the stratosphere, carried by a biodegradable helium balloon inside a custom-built carbon capsule equipped with a full HD camera. For ninety minutes, the painting floated silently in near-space, suspended between Earth and the void. The feat earned international media coverage and made Jisbar the first artist in history to send a painting into space.

Today, that very painting, and the footage of its extraordinary journey, has found its place at the heart of one of the most ambitious institutional exhibitions of 2026: « The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance », co-produced by the Musée du Louvre and the Grand Palais Immersif, running until 27 July 2026 at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum as part of the French May Arts Festival.

« The Mona Lisa belongs to humanity. That’s what I wanted to say by sending it into space. Seeing it today projected across four walls and the floor of an immersive room in Hong Kong, in front of thousands of visitors, that’s exactly it. A work that keeps travelling, far beyond anything I had planned », says JISBAR.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF A 540° IMMERSIVE SEQUENCE

Within the exhibition pathway designed by the Louvre and the Grand Palais Immersif, JISBAR’s work holds a position of distinction. It is projected at monumental scale across the four walls and floor of an immersive 360° room, with the actual footage of its space voyage, clouds, Earth’s curvature, the darkness of the upper atmosphere, forming the backdrop.

Isabelle Jouve, Senior Creative Producer of the exhibition, describes the sequence as extraordinary : « The motion designer Théo Schornstein has done a remarkable job staging it in a 540° room (projection on 4 walls and floor). JISBAR’s work is something of the acme of the sequence, it arrives on all four sides against a lunar backdrop ».

JISBAR’s « Punk Mona », created to mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, resonates here as a powerful symbol : a classical icon launched literally into the future, reinterpreted by a living artist and woven into a major institutional narrative reaching global audiences.Communiqué de presse

FROM MARSEILLE TO HONG KONG : A TRAVELLING EXHIBITION

This Hong Kong exhibition builds on an earlier presentation in France, where the Grand Palais Immersif and the Musée du Louvre first unveiled « Meet Mona Lisa » at the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille, already incorporating Jisbar’s work into the immersive sequence. The Hong Kong chapter represents the international iteration of this collaboration, presented within one of Asia’s most respected museum settings.

« This work has an incredible story. I sent it into space to pay tribute to the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death. Ten years later, the Grand Palais Immersif and the Musée du Louvre integrated it into their immersive exhibition « Meet Mona Lisa »,first in Marseille, and now in Hong Kong. It’s a full circle I never could have imagined », continues JISBAR.

AN ARTIST IN DIALOGUE WITH THE GREAT INSTITUTIONS

JISBAR, born Jean-Baptiste Launay in 1989, raised in Val d’Isère, is one of the most distinctive voices in international pop-street art. His practice centres on reinterpreting art history, through his own visual language : words, slogans, codes, saturated colour, and references drawn from urban culture, skateboarding and pop culture. Each work moves beyond homage to become a new narrative, layered with multiple levels of meaning.

From San Francisco to Taipei, from London to Dubai, his works are shown in galleries and museums worldwide. He has collaborated with leading global brands, BMW, Ducati, Armani, Franck Muller, LG, DJ Snake, and his charitable artistic commitments have raised significant funds for humanitarian causes, including €170,000 for a hospital in Bologna through a Ducati auction. His works are held in institutional collections including the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration in Paris and the Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi.

PRACTICAL INFOS

• The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance

• 1 May to 27 July 2026 Hong Kong Heritage Museum

• 1 Man Lam Road, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong

• Free admission

• Open daily 10am to 6pm (closed Tuesdays)

• Co-produced by the Musée du Louvre and the Grand Palais Immersif Part of the French May Arts Festival 2026

ABOUT JISBAR

Born in 1989, this French pop and street artist redefines the art scene through his unique fusion of classical art and modern pop and urban influences. French artist based in Lisbon.

More information: https://www.jisbar-art.com/