Becoming of Vladimir Ovchinnikov as an artist was happening in the 1960s, when a circle of free artists began to form in Leningrad and Moscow, which later would be called nonconformists. Like many creative people of that time, Ovchinnikov fundamentally did not want to receive artistic education in the Soviet ideological institutions of higher education, preferring to self-education. In March 1964, Vladimir Ovchinnikov with Mikhail Shemyakin, and other young artists organized an exhibition of their works in the State Hermitage in the Rastrelli gallery, which lasted only two days, than it was closed. Already by the mid-1970s, Ovchinnikov was one of the most active participants in the movement of non-conformists, his works began to attract foreign collectors. Since the mid-1980s numerous Ovchinnikov’s exhibitions were held in the United States, France, Germany, China and other countries.

Painting of Vladimir Ovchinnikov is always figurative; a plot plays a great role in it. In the works of the 1970s there are a lot of Leningrad’s countryside everyday life scenes, in which the biblical and mythological characters are quietly introduced. In later works, the artist turns more to literature of the 20th century, developing the theme of absurdity as the timeless essence of our reality. Dmitry Ozerkov, the manager of the project "The Hermitage. 20/21" writes that "the unique creative style allows you to recognize the work of Vladimir Ovchinnikov in any environment. It is not only the motives, which are repeated from picture to picture: the angels, centaurs, chess figures. We can recognize it as if a very picturesque “body” of paintings: constant diagonal composition, constant ocher and brown shades in the palette, the famous isolation of corpulent figures from each other. Any his picture is as if internally voluminous, all shapes, objects, interiors are filled with personal power, and therefore it does not mix with each other."