Patrick Moya

Born in Troyes in 1955, Patrick Moya studied during the 70's at the Villa Arson in Nice. Soon supported by the main gallery of Nice's school, in 1996 he exhibits large canvas and sculptures at the MAMAC, the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of the capital of South of France.

Then he started to be famous worldwide: After been regularly exhibited in Italy since 1987, he is presented in London, Germany, in the United States; in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, etc. In addition to the painting and sculpture exhibitions, representations and happenings take place, without forgetting the creation of posters and press drawings. Moya is everywhere, including in the 3D virtual universes.

Whereas it is on the support or in the technique, his style is immediately recognizable. "Moya's universe is both enchanted and slightly perverse", writes the journalist Florence Canarelli in a book dedicated to the artist. A universe "inhabited by teddy bears and drag-queens, pinocchios and cupids, stone pines, flying elephants and winged devils."

Among his recurrent characters, Dolly the sheep -created in 1998, from the first cloned mammal in the history- has become over the years a cult, becoming the mascot of hype techno parties the "Dolly parties", where Patrick Moya regularly performed.

Moya doesn't disdain parties, but also invites to contemplation and spirituality, because like Matisse or Cocteau, he was also asked to decorate a praying area in a village in the Maritime Alps: The Saint-Jean chapel, in Clans, from the XVIIIth century, and since 2007 more known as the "Moya" chapel.