Karlen Avetisyan was born in the village of Arevshat, Soviet Armenia.
Since 1977 Avetisyan has been teaching in the Fine Arts College after P. Terlemezian, during 1996-2004 he served as a professor of composition at the Fine Arts Academy of Armenia.
Karlen Avetisyan is the author of mural paintings (Grand Hotel Yerevan, 1999) and tapestry which are kept in House-Museum of Khachatur Abovyan (1973), curtain-tapestry in Sports and Music Hall after K. Demirchyan (1984).
In 1990 he finished the tapestry based on a sketch of Grigor Khanjyan, which is now kept in the depositary of Etchmiadzin Cathedral.
Avetisyan worked on the projection of historical monuments and has published books (Earthy Creations", Ararat the Mather of Dimensional Figures Light").