When you step inside Patrick Moya’s home, you enter a real Aladdin’s cave. Masks of all kinds, paintings, imaginary characters adorn the walls and shelves. Patrick Moya is an undeniable artist. It is well known: artists are notoriously messy. Papers of all kinds cover his desk. He doesn’t seem to mind, “they try to tidy things up for me but then I can’t find them.” At 54, he has built himself an imaginary world. His overflowing imagination and talent have earned him recognition in the region. Since 2009, he has been creating designs for floats for the famous Nice Carnival.
The King of the Blue Planet
This year, the celebration is themed around sustainable development. For the occasion, Patrick Moya has designed a float featuring selective sorting with an elephant. Its uniqueness? It is transparent and made of wire mesh. Behind the animal, a conveyor belt that a person will be responsible for turning. The idea? To fill the elephant with bombs and various objects. Bombs that will be recycled, since with its trunk, it is supposed to blow out confetti. Patrick Moya solely creates drawings. He spent an hour designing this drawing. Before that, he designed 8 other sketches that he submitted to the carnival organizers. “I get all the glory because there’s the drawing, but I don’t do the bulk of the work,” he says humorously.
A Second Life
Patrick Moya is driven by a childlike spirit. He does not wish to age. When asked about his age, he replies, “I don’t know. I don’t celebrate my birthdays.” To escape the passing years and live in an imaginary world, he created a character on Second Life, a 3D universe, where he goes by the name Moya-Janus.
Since he set foot in Second Life, his enthusiasm for the virtual world knows no bounds. He is capable of spending an entire day in front of his giant screen. “I started buying land, then I met a London designer, someone interested in art, etc.” “Second Life is a potential for encounters.” There might be a “cyber carnival” one day. For now, it’s a call for projects. Several virtual world artists will be selected by a jury group. So we wish Patrick Moya the best of luck.
