Vladimir Ovchinnikov was born in 1941 in the Urals. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, he moved to Leningrad, and in 1950 he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Art.
Ovchinnikov joined the alternative movement of the Leningrad underground in the early 1960s and participated in numerous nonconformist events. He took part in the famous exhibition «Artists-workers of an economic part» at the Hermitage in 1964.
His art incorporates elements of folklore and biblical mythology regarding Soviet life as mystical reality. Angels appear in his compositions and resemble ordinary Soviet people who have preserved their human dignity in the most impossible life circumstances. The artist masterfully uses lighting techniques to immerse his characters in an unusually surreal space.
Ovchinnikov is currently one of the best known St. Petersburg artists. His work can be seen in many European and American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He lives in St. Petersburg.