"In the complicated relationship between art and life each of us writes his own equation. For Avetisian that equation was defined as "greater than" or "equal to" and life was always "greater than." His deep personal involvement in the lives of those who were deprived of freedom, his charitable work in behalf of the Armenian Church and the Armenian community of St. Petersburg, his generosity towards his friends, indicated the supremacy of life. And this in its turn guaranteed the authenticity of his art and the inexhaustibility of his sources of inspiration…" (Alexander Grigoriev)