Notes from John Barkes on Viktor Otiev, 2022.

"Viktor Otiev was a member of the Artists' Union of St Petersburg.

I really admire his work, and visited his large and very impressive studio in the Vasilevski District of the city many times in the last five years of his life.

He was born in Vladikavkaz, the principal city in the old Soviet Republic of South Ossetia.

After being a star student at the local art college he was sent to the postgraduate Repin Academy of Arts in Leningrad. I believe he studied in the studio of Professor Oreshnikov.

I really admire his early compositions, particularly those inspired by the mountain cultures of the Caucasus.

In about 1975 he suffered a mental breakdown. He became agoraphobic and virtually never left the studio for the rest of his life. As a result, his later paintings became mannered and repetitive.

He painted a self-portrait every year on his birthday.

One of my favourite painters.

His son Vitold is an artist -- he inherited his father's studio."