El Moya, 1990

Patrick Moya   Emerging artists

Patrick Moya is a French contemporary artist born in 1955 in Troyes. He lives and works in Nice, where he has been developing an original work since the 1970s mixing painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, installation, performance, digital art, and the creation of virtual worlds. Trained at Villa Arson in Nice (1974-1977), he has been interested from the beginning in the relationship between the artist, his identity, and the new means of expression linked to contemporary technologies. His artistic approach is based on a reflection on self-representation, the role of the author, and the transformation of the artist into a character within his own creation.

From the 1980s, Patrick Moya develops a conceptual work around his own name, progressively integrating the letters “M-O-Y-A" into his works until making his signature a true plastic language. He then creates the character of “moya", a fictional alter ego that becomes the hero of an autonomous artistic universe. This personal mythology gives birth to “Civilisation Moya", an imaginary world populated by colorful creatures, situated at the border between contemporary art, popular culture, fiction, comic book, and digital technologies. Through this universe, the artist questions the notion of identity, the place of the artist in contemporary society, and the new territories of creation.

A precursor of digital art and practices related to the metaverse, Patrick Moya explores the possibilities offered by virtual worlds from the 2000s. He notably created “Moya Land", an immersive artistic environment developed in the Second Life virtual universe, which extends his reflection on self-portraiture, interactive work, and the construction of a parallel artistic world. In 2008, his work was presented in the international exhibition “Virtual Renaissance" at the National Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology of Florence, dedicated to new forms of virtual creation.

Patrick Moya's practice is characterized by a great diversity of techniques: acrylic painting, sculpture, monumental fresco, ceramics, photography, video, 3D modeling, immersive installation, and artistic performance. His visual universe, recognizable by its bright colors, hybrid characters, and aesthetic close to pop art, geek culture, and contemporary illustration, is part of a reflection on the links between traditional art and technological innovation. His live painting performances and his monumental creations also contribute to the renewal of forms of contemporary urban art.

Patrick Moya has exhibited his work in numerous personal and collective exhibitions in France and internationally. Among his major exhibitions are “Les Caprices de Moya" at the Municipal Gallery of Les Ponchettes in Nice (1987), “The Sculpture Exhibition of Moya" at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan (1995), “MOYA-MOYA" at MAMAC – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice (1996), “L'Arsenal de Moya" in Metz (2003), “L'Arche de Moya" at La Défense Grande Arche in Paris (2006), “La Civilisation Moya" at the La Malmaison Art Center in Cannes (2011), “Moya in the Classics" at the Radium Art Center in South Korea (2013), “Moya Circus" at the MAC 3 Museum of Contemporary Art in Caserta, Italy (2015), “Moya Royal Transmedia" at the Reggia di Caserta (2019), and “La Collection Moya" at the Musée Masséna in Nice (2020).

A multidisciplinary artist recognized for his innovative approach, Patrick Moya occupies a singular place in contemporary French art. His work associates contemporary figuration, fantastic imagination, pop painting, digital creation, virtual worlds, and artistic autofiction. By developing a personal mythology that crosses physical and digital media, he questions the boundaries between real and virtual, between creator and creation, and proposes an original vision of the artist in the digital age.