Peter Otlan

Drawing was always a part of my life. I went to a school of art in Leningrad (St. Petersburg today). I had a teacher who taught me to feel reverence for works of art. He introduced me to Eugène Fromentin and his passionate relationship with Flemish painting. A child's memory picks random moments, but I remember very well a certain and vivid description of Rubens' painting technique: a gliding hand conquering this sticky and disobedient mass called paint.
I became a student of architecture of Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. I was lucky with the professors. Among them we had Gennady Ivanovich Alekseev, a connoisseur of Leningrad, a poet and writer. So Professor Alekseev introduced us to the engineering profession. An interesting paradox: we had design classes with Lazar Markovich Khidekel, a famous avant-garde artist, a student of Marc Chagall and a member of the Vitebsk group of artists led by Kazimir Malevich.
As a student I devoted much time to fine arts. I was a traditionalist and loved the past, paying much attention to classical architectural details. Professor Khidekel, who was noted for realizing the abstract and avant-garde Suprematist movement through architecture, tried to persu...

Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Vera Mukhina Higher School of Art and Design

"Action/Inaction" - August 2023, Stāmeriena castle, Lv
"Memories of the city of my childhood" - December 2021, Russisches Kulturinstitut, Wien, Au
"Mountains and waters" - April 2018, Erdesz Gallery, Szentendre (Budapest), Hu
"Lario" - February 2018, Art Gallery "Astoria", St-Petersburg, Ru
"Lake Como stories" - February 2017, Gallery "Sarai", Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House, St-Petersburg, Ru
"Reflections" - December 2015, Design Gallery Bulthaup,St-Petersburg, Ru
"Dreams and reality" - February 2013, House of St. Petersburg Union of Architects, St-Petersburg, Ru
Participation in exhibitions of the group of artists "Golden Thread"