The next frontier of contemporary art very well might be outer space, and Chinese artist Jacky Tsai is at the forefront, with a new project featuring paintings on actual rocket ships.
Produced in collaboration with commercial space company LandSpace, Tsai’s design was rendered in aerospace-grade paint and advanced production methods—executed in close coordination with engineers—on the body of an orbital rocket earlier this year. With the aim of ensuring the artwork remained as vibrant under extreme launch conditions as when on the ground, the bold, graphic work could still be seen as it approached the stratosphere.
Tsai commented, “This is the first fully art-painted rocket to enter Earth’s orbit. It may be a small step for me, but I hope it marks a giant leap for the aerospace industry—a future where rockets are no longer just pure white or stainless-steel silver, but canvases for human imagination. One day, perhaps even SpaceX will let artists paint the dreams that fly beyond Earth.”
The work, titled ZQ-2E Y2 (Zhuque-2 Enhanced, Flight 2), took inspiration from the Chinese folktale “Chang’e Flying to the Moon.” In the story, Chang’e was given an elixir of immortality, which she later drank and flew to the moon to escape a rogue. Now, she along with her pet rabbit reside in the Moon Palace forevermore. And while the composition taps themes from the story, the production and execution of the work metaphorically parallels the story itself; once launched, leaving Earth and passing beyond the Káráman line, the commonly held definition of where outer space begins (100 kilometers above mean sea level).
The artist said, “To witness my artwork launched into space on a real rocket is one of the most emotional moments of my career. Through this project, I hope to send out shared dreams and imagination truly into the cosmos.”