An exploration of identity, symbolism, and cultural dialogue through painting, paper, and bronze
by A.I.M. Kowalewsky
The internationally renowned Austrian painter and writer Haralampi G. Oroschakoff returns to Galerie Depardieu in Nice for his third solo exhibition, unveiling a powerful new body of work entitled “Prêt-à-porter.” Opening on Thursday, June 5, 2025, the exhibition invites the viewer into a conversation that spans nearly a decade of artistic creation and intellectual reflection.
A Series Rooted in Style and Subversion
The title “Prêt-à-porter”—the French term for ready-to-wear fashion—evokes more than a nod to clothing; it serves as a conceptual lens. Developed between 2015 and 2024, the series comprises 11 paintings, 32 works on paper, and the 2-part bronze sculpture Poetic Life. Here, the aesthetic of standardized beauty, made iconic by Yves Saint Laurent’s 1960 runway presentation and preceded by Pierre Cardin’s innovations, becomes the springboard for a deeper inquiry.
“Prêt-à-porter” becomes metaphor: a symbol of the globalization of everyday life, the friction between conformity and individual creation.
As Oroschakoff states, “If style is associated with refinement and obstinacy, then art is the subversive-individualised contribution. If beauty still obliges, its invention is an individual act.”
Bridging Civilizations: East and West, Past and Present
Born into an exiled Russian family and raised in Vienna, Oroschakoff’s biography is itself a bridge between histories, ideologies, and geographies. A pioneer of cultural dialogue, he began his artistic career in 1980 with performance and photo-novels, later expanding into painting, installation, and writing. Since 1981, he has cultivated a visual and literary practice centered on the intersections of identity, spirituality, and historical memory.
His distinctive iconography draws from the Orthodox Christian tradition, the Russian avant-garde, and Western modernism—all woven into a vocabulary of powerful symbolic resonance.
Oroschakoff’s work is included in prominent public and private collections: the MUMOK (Vienna), Lenbachhaus (Munich), Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art (Prato), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), and the Duerckheim, Rosenkranz, and Andra Lauffs-Wegner collections.
A Lasting Relationship with the Côte d’Azur
The exhibition at Galerie Depardieu also marks a homecoming of sorts. Oroschakoff’s personal and artistic connection to the Côte d’Azur spans decades. Raised between Vienna and Cannes, he was introduced early to the work of Picasso, Matisse, and Bonnard. He has exhibited widely in the region, participating in major shows such as Sous le soleil exactement I & II at the Villa Arson (1988–1989), and Icônes at the Musée de la Castre, Cannes.
In 1998, his painterly inquiry into the Russian avant-garde began with Être là au Bord du Monde: Voyageurs et Orientalistes, taking him from MAMCO (Geneva) to the State Russian Museum/Museum Ludwig (St. Petersburg) and the Centre Contemporain (Le Cannet). Most recently, his acclaimed solo exhibition Visages des frontières was hosted by the Musée des explorations du monde, Cannes (2021–2022), and will continue at the National Museum of Art in Baku in autumn 2025.
Exhibition Opening
Haralampi G. Oroschakoff — “Prêt-à-porter”
🗓 Thursday, June 5, 2025
🕓 16:00 – 21:00 (Artist in attendance)
📍 Galerie Depardieu, 6 rue du Docteur Jacques Guidoni, 06000 Nice
🕒 Opening Hours: Monday–Saturday, 14:30 – 18:30
This exhibition is an invitation to contemplate how style, identity, and symbolism intersect in a world caught between speed and stillness, form and meaning. In “Prêt-à-porter,” Haralampi G. Oroschakoff delivers both a critique and celebration of how we wear the world and, most of all, how art continues to make it our own.
A.I.M.K
