Born in Troyes in 1955 to parents of Spanish origin, Patrick Moya studied at the Villa Arson art school in Nice before spending ten years modelling nudes for art schools, with the aim of ‘becoming the creature instead of the creator’. He has read McLuhan and wonders with him about the changes brought to the history of art by the new media: ‘with ubiquitous media, such as live television, the creator no longer has the time to tell the history of art; in order to exist, he must become a creature’. 

After this long episode, in which he played the role of Narcissus reflecting himself in the eyes of others, he really began his work by working on the letters of his name, M O Y A, assimilating the work to his signature during his Neo-Lattist period (1981), before inventing an alter ego, his little ‘moya’, a caricatured self-portrait inspired by Pinocchio (1997), which enabled him to exist in his work. In 1998, he joined the Ferrero gallery, known in Nice for championing the Ecole de Nice artistic movement. His work became prolific, and a personal universe gradually took shape, an almost human bestiary, delightfully funny and poetic, which stands up looking at the viewer: in 1999, ‘Dolly’ appeared, a mischievous sheep conceived as the visual identity of the Dolly Party techno evenings, and which was to become one of the main characters in his ‘Moya Land’. In June 2007, after four years' work, he completed the mural fresco of a chapel that now bears his name in Clans (a village in the middle of the Nice region), while in 2020 a “New Moya Chapel”, painted from floor to ceiling in just a few weeks, was inaugurated in the small village of Le Mas (in the Grasse highlands). 

An adept of ‘live painting’ since the 2000s, Moya has produced countless paintings live and in public, with a record 27 metres long in 2013 at an Italian art fair (Reggio Emilia) and up to 55 metres in two days (on the Veillat beach in Saint Raphaël) at a street art festival in 2021. At ease with a paintbrush as well as a computer, he began writing his name in basic on a Thomson MO5 in 1985, before digitising his little ‘moya’ to produce images and then films in 3D. In 2007, he discovered Second Life (SL), the famous metaverse in which he reconstructed his entire universe, sharing his life between the real and the virtual ever since. Recognised in 2008 as a digital artist (two pages are devoted to him in the first Panorama des arts numériques en France, MCD éditions), he lives this second life with passion, taking part in the ‘Virtual Renaissance’ in 2009, for example: this was the title of the first major exhibition of SL artists, held in the anthropology museum of the city of the Italian Renaissance, Florence, where an entire room was devoted to the ‘Moya Civilisation’. 

In 2011, a new ‘Moya Civilisation’ was unveiled on the walls of the La Malmaison art centre in Cannes: a painted fresco-installation 90 metres long and 4 metres high, recounting his artistic journey. This exhibition, reproduced identically in SL, allowed visitors to meet the artist's avatar and explore his virtual world with him. In 2018, ‘Le Cas Moya’ is being honoured at the Lympia art centre in Nice: almost 12,000 visitors will have seen and revisited this major ‘intro-retrospective’ organised by the 06 department. In short, thanks to his tree-like work, Moya is at once classical and baroque, abstract and figurative, real and virtual, narcissistic and generous, a lover of popular spectacles such as the circus or the carnival, as well as the subject of a very serious catalogue raisonné tracing 40 years of creation (4,200 works listed, 2011). At the same time as pursuing his artistic adventure in all directions, in galleries in Korea (Busan), the USA (Cape Cod), Italy (Caserta, Spotorno, Parma), Luxembourg and of course all over France (Nice, Monaco, Lyon, Marseille, Fontainebleau, Metz, Epinal? ), with live paintings at art fairs in Italy (Padova, Genova, Forli, Bergamo, Rimini) or Germany (Cologne), with performance-installations in Cerveira (Portugal), Utrecht (Netherlands), Malta or Modica (Sicily), more recently in Caserta (Museo di Arte, 2015), in Mantova in the Palazzo Ducale (2016, 14. 000 visitors), in Torino, in the Palazzo Saluzzo Paesana, on the theme ‘Dolly mon amour’ (2018), or again at the Reggia di Caserta (Royal Palace of Caserta), in the south of Italy (2019), where Moya has become ‘Royal Transmedia’... 

As well as in his virtual, yet very real Moya Land. His works can be found in several public collections: a monumental 8-metre steel sculpture (Kaohsiung Museum, Taiwan, 1991), two sculptures and a large canvas (Mamac de Nice, 1996), two large sculptures in a park (town of Cap d'Ail, 2008), a sundial (Coaraze, 2008), two canvases on the theme of the circus (princely family of Monaco, 2009), a large resin sculpture (town of Cannes, 2011 or Beuil, 2021), a four-metre canvas on the theme of Moya Circus (City of St Raphaël, 2013), a large sculpture ‘Dolly’ (six metres high) in Busan (South Korea, 2013), a canvas on the theme of Transhumance (St Etienne de Tinée, 2015), a funerary stele for Les Tout petits (Nice, 2015), a painting entitled ‘Moyalisa’ (Mona Lisa) for the Epinal Museum of Ancient and Contemporary Art (2018), a large painting in a hospital (Pasteur 2 in Nice)... And, in 2021, a panel from the Moya Collection (this was the title of the room in the Musée Masséna painted in situ by the artist on the theme of the cabinet of curiosities, as part of a tribute to Jean Ferrero), was bought by the City of Nice... As a pioneer of virtual universes, he is now making optimum use of all the incredible resources of this globalised metaverse: building an ideal museum, then, like an urban planner, a real city, which gives him the opportunity to give guided tours (in a virtual car or plane) to show the whole range of his work; taking part in countless exhibitions, openings, conferences, interviews... and unlimited opportunities to meet people (easy communication thanks to the automatic translator in every language)... But also, making 3D models to prepare an exhibition and then preserving this event that can be revisited ad infinitum. Not forgetting the new possibilities of transforming characters originally drawn or painted into volume and animating them (with the help of specialised builders from SL, 2021)... 

In short, the construction of an ideal world in which the artist can finally, through his avatar, live inside his work while meeting his audience live and at a distance. Moya, artist of the metaverse At ease with a paintbrush as well as a computer, Patrick Moya began writing his name in basic on a Thomson MO5 in 1985, before digitising his little ‘moya’ to produce images and then films in 3D. In 2007, he discovered Second Life (SL), a metaverse in which he reconstructed his entire universe, sharing his life between the real and the virtual ever since. Recognised in 2008 as a digital artist (two pages are devoted to him in the first Panorama des arts numériques en France, MCD éditions), he lives this second life with passion, taking part in the ‘Virtual Renaissance’ in 2009, for example: this was the title of the first major exhibition of SL artists, held in the anthropology museum of the city of the Italian Renaissance, Florence, where an entire room was devoted to the ‘Moya Civilisation’. In 2011, a new ‘Moya Civilisation’ saw the light of day on the walls of the La Malmaison art centre in Cannes, this time in real life: a painted fresco-installation 90 metres long and 4 metres high telling the story of his artistic journey. Except that this exhibition was reproduced identically in SL, allowing visitors to meet the artist's avatar (thanks to a freely accessible computer) and explore his virtual world with him. As a pioneer of virtual universes, he is now making optimum use of all the incredible resources of this globalised metaverse: building an ideal museum, then, like an urban planner, a real city, which gives him the opportunity to give guided tours (in a virtual car or plane) to show the full range of his work; taking part in countless exhibitions, openings, conferences, interviews... But you can also create 3D models to prepare an exhibition, even from a distance between the artist and the curator, and then keep a record of the event that can be revisited ad infinitum. Not forgetting the new possibilities of transforming characters originally drawn or painted into volume and animating them (with the help of specialist ‘builders’ from SL, 2021)... 

In short, the construction of an ideal world in which the artist can finally, through his avatar, live inside his work while meeting his audience live and at a distance. The double life of a metaverse artist By moving into the virtual world of Second Life, Moya is living two lives, switching from one to the other in a new kind of mise en abime. He has become the absolute Master of his virtual Moya Land, a ‘little dictatorship of art’. The creator finally lives in his work and meets the spectator live and at a distance. ‘I didn't want to be the Creator, I wanted to be the Creature’, said Moya in his early days. Today, he has realised his dream and, above all, brought his adolescent theories full circle. He is finally living in the work of art. In his work. At least in the evenings, in front of his computer. That's where he splits into two, under the name and costume of Moya Janus, his avatar made of pixels, which he manipulates using the keys on his keyboard, like a puppeteer of himself. This allows him to revisit and remix his work, again and again, and to put it on stage. At the same time, he meets the viewer from a distance and invites them to join him inside the work. In other words, if we want to be more down-to-earth, his virtual territories serve to showcase all his work and make it known to the world (potentially to the whole world insofar as it is connected) in an entertaining and educational way. And it's easy to see why Moya would be interested in a virtual world, given the tree-like structure of his work. How do you visually retranslate a body of work that goes in all directions, refuses to limit itself and touches on all media, styles and techniques? 

By inventing a city, a country, a universe, Moya Land, where everything co-exists: the ‘direct which erases the history of art’; the work on the name, illustrated by the Moya Tower. But also with this virtual work in which the letters of Moya twirl around. There's also the panel that the optician can use to check your eyesight, which says MOYA in various dimensions! In this Moya Land, painting, ceramics and photography also co-exist, exhibited in specific places, such as the ceramics or photography museums, or the museum of popular traditions... Drawing, through the intermediary of drawn characters occupying a verdant territory. Press articles displayed in a newsagent's, painted dresses or wine labels drawn in fashion boutiques or wine shops, the fresco in the Moya chapel reproduced identically in a virtual chapel in the Vieux Village, a Moya float parked in the carnival house, monumental canvases for the circus displayed under a striped big top. There are also a number of real exhibition venues all over the world, from Portugal and Holland to Venice and Korea. The Musée de la Céramique in Vallauris and La Malmaison in Cannes. And even, in a vertiginous mise en abime, Moya's larger-than-life house in Nice, where Moya Janus receives journalists. In the end, this tree-like work bore fruit: in 2015, it gave rise to totally new works, in which Moya remixed his images, old and new, painting and 3D, his first and second lives. As in a recent work, a fresco exhibited in a Nice street on a hoarding at the tramway construction site in 2015, we see his ‘moya’ in 3D before Second Life, as a painter holding his palette and signing MOYA. A by-product of his virtual world, his virtual avatar stands on a pedestal like a precious sculpture. Several paintings within the painting, hung on the walls or placed on the floor, representing either an existing painting, or a Moya character tagged with the letters of his name, or a digital work representing the Avatar but enhanced with paint, a 3D Dolly sculpted in mesh and imported into the virtual world, a photo of the Moya Tower from Second Life, a scale made in 3D... The result is a mural of a totally new kind, made up of real works of art, both existing and invented for the occasion, set in perspective in an imaginary museum with walls of shimmering colours. And this is just a small example of the possibilities offered to Moya today by his refusal to limit himself. Another advantage of this 3D universe is the identical reproduction of all his exhibitions. On the one hand so that they continue to live long after their real end, and also so that we can reflect beforehand, and from a distance, in this three-dimensional model. 

A recent example: for the ‘Moya Royal Transmedia’ exhibition, the artist met the curator (the author of these lines) in the virtual Reggia di Caserta, using their avatars, so that in the end the real exhibition was an almost exact copy of the virtual one! Just recently, in 2019, Moya has invented a new form of ‘live’: not content with living every night in his work, on his virtual island, he is using Facebook ‘live’ to film himself - and broadcast himself - living his second life. It's a way of letting viewers into his work more easily, since Second Life is less accessible than the social network, and communication with the artist is possible via chat. This is where we find the ‘passion for live action’ so dear to Guy Lux ... and to Moya, from a very early age! But his virtual curiosity doesn't stop there: beyond Second Life, he's constantly on the lookout for new virtual worlds like VRChat and Roblox, where he's once again tirelessly recreating his Moya Land. Pursuing his ultimate dream of living in his work in every possible way... waiting for the day when he can survive (at least his brain) for eternity in this ideal world. Moya and the NFT As a visual artist, performer and digital artist, French artist Patrick MOYA works in arborescence, juggling between real work and virtual worlds, in an invasive and immersive approach that uses his name and image as a pretext. His aim is to become a ‘creature that lives in his work’. When he moved into Second Life in 2007, who could have imagined that his Moya Land would be such a persistent universe, still located at the same address, on the same servers for over 13 years. So it's hardly surprising that Moya is now a pioneer in NFT-certified art sales. At ease with a paintbrush as well as a computer, Patrick Moya began writing his name in basic on a Thomson MO5 in 1985, before digitising his little ‘moya’ to produce images and then films in 3D. In 2007, he discovered Second Life (SL), the famous metaverse in which he reconstructed his entire universe, sharing his life between the real and the virtual ever since. Recognised in 2008 as a digital artist (two pages are devoted to him in the first Panorama des arts numériques en France, MCD éditions), he lives this second life with passion, taking part in the ‘Virtual Renaissance’ in 2009, for example: this was the title of the first major exhibition of SL artists, held in the anthropology museum of the city of the Italian Renaissance, Florence, where an entire room was devoted to the ‘Moya Civilisation’. In 2011, a new ‘Moya Civilisation’ saw the light of day on the walls of the La Malmaison art centre in Cannes, this time in real life: a painted fresco-installation 90 metres long and 4 metres high telling the story of his artistic journey. Except that this exhibition was reproduced identically in SL, allowing visitors to meet the artist's avatar (thanks to a freely accessible computer) and explore his virtual world with him. As a pioneer of virtual universes, he is now making optimum use of all the incredible resources of this globalised metaverse: building an ideal museum, then, like an urban planner, a real city, which gives him the opportunity to give guided tours (in a virtual car or plane) to show the full range of his work; taking part in countless exhibitions, openings, conferences, interviews... But you can also create 3D models to prepare an exhibition, even from a distance between the artist and the curator, and then keep a record of the event that can be revisited ad infinitum. Not forgetting the new possibilities of transforming characters originally drawn or painted into volume and animating them (with the help of specialised builders from SL, 2021)... 

In short, the construction of an ideal world in which the artist can finally, through his avatar, live inside his work while meeting his public live and at a distance. In 2021, Moya has not waited for the NFT craze to create digital works for sale in a specialised gallery on his virtual island. As far back as 2007, he had already put digital works created in SL up for sale at the Strasbourg art fair (or at least digital images printed on canvas representing these works). And in a performance with an estate agency in Nice, he sold digital sculptures for 20 euros to collectors, some of whom didn't own a computer! Moya also managed to sell a virtual work to Crédit Agricole, the first bank to buy several islands in SL (as early as March 2007), through a virtual ‘Futura 2.0 local fund’ made up of real directors from the green bank, which even organised an exhibition to sell works by the artist in aid of the Telethon.