Vladimir Ovchinnikov - one of the most famous figures of Leningrad underground art – has died in St. Petersburg.

      The artist, aged 74, died after an extended illness.

      Vladimir Afanasyevich Ovchinnikov was born in the Perm Region on October 4, 1941. He lived and worked in St. Petersburg, was a stage designer and painted frescoes in churches.

      An underground artist without any vocational art education, he was nevertheless entitled the Merited Artist of the Russian Federation in 2005.

      The artist took part in more than 300 exhibitions in Russia and abroad.

      Vladimir Ovchinnikov's works are kept in collections of the State Hermitage Museum, the Russian Museum, the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, the Arts Museum in Beijing and other collections.