Fine Art: Painting by Moya

Painting by French master artist Patrick Moya.

Patrick Moya was born 1955 in Troyes, France. He is a Southern French artist, living in Nice on the French Riviera. He is a part of the artistic movement "Ecole de Nice". Moya has been at the forefront since the 1970s. He studied Fine Arts at the Villa Arson for three years. In the 1980's, he begin working with the letters of his name, MOYA, believing that "the art is the signature".

This spawned the practice of using the letters of his name in his art which he has put on as many surfaces as possible, often in the background of his paintings or in sculpture, in a celebratory way which has become his trademark. Being a model meanwhile taught him to objectify himself so he could later insert himself as the medium in his own work after realizing that "with the ubiquity of broadcast media, the creator had to invent himself as a creature" to ride out and embrace New Media.

In the 1990's, he invented an alter ego, "moya", a self-portrait inspired by Pinocchio, in order to "become part of his art work".

In the 2000's, he participated in the first major exhibition in the museum of Anthropology of Florence where an entire room was devoted to the "Moya civilization". The Moya Universe arrived to maturity, as demonstrated by the big 90 meter mural-installation, a fresco who told the story of Moya civilization, on the walls of the art center La Malmaison, in Cannes. This exhibition allowed to visitors to meet the artist from a distance, ask questions and visit him in his virtual Moya Land.