In 1961-1964 and 1967-1970 he studied painting at the Vilnius Art Institute, and in June 1962 he participated in a painting student practice in Kavarsk (Anykščiai district), where he created a moody cycle of Kavarsk paintings. In 1964-1967, he did his compulsory military service in the Soviet army, serving in military units in Gusev (Kaliningrad region, Russia).

1970-1971, Šaltenis was an employee of the Lithuanian Artists' Union's "Art Fund", and in 1971-1975 and in 1981-1988, he was a teacher at the Vilnius Children's School of Art. In 1987-1990 he worked as the responsible secretary of the Lithuanian Artists' Union.



1975-1981 and 1988-1994 A. Šaltenis was a lecturer at the Vilnius Art Institute, later he became an associate professor. Since 2000 he has been a professor at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

In1992, with a scholarship from the French Ministry of Culture, A. Šaltenis took part in an internship at the International Art Campus in Paris.

In 1989-1994, he worked as the Head of the Painting Department of the Vilnius Institute of Arts. In 1994-1999 and 1999-2004, for two consecutive terms, he was the Rector of the Vilnius Art Institute and later the Rector of the Academy. From 2004 to 2010, Šaltenis was the Vice-Rector of Art and Science at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and from 2010 to 2014, he was the Vice-Rector of Art at the Academy. He was also a member of the Lithuanian Rectors' Conference from 1994-2004. Since 2016, he has been the Head of the Department of Painting at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Under the leadership of A. Šaltenis, the number of students, doctoral students and postgraduates of the Vilnius Academy of Arts has reached 2,000, the Kaunas and Telšiai Faculties of Art, the Klaipėda Department, the studio in Paris, and the workshops in Druskininkai and Nida have been established.

The painter A. Šaltenis is considered to be the successor of the tradition of the expressive realism of the Arsinians, and he is a member of the group of artists "24". He paints portraits and figure compositions, landscapes, still lifes. His works are characterised by dramatic, ironic, grotesque, expressive and deformed drawing.

Since 1960 he has participated in exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad, and has exhibited his paintings in more than 70 exhibitions in France, Finland, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Austria, Georgia, Georgia, Armenia, Sweden, the USA, England, Germany, Lithuania, England, and other countries. In 1994, Šaltenis took part in the exhibition of the group "24" in Paris, in 1998 - in the exhibition of Lithuanian art in Düsseldorf (Germany), in 2000 - in the exhibition of Baltic paintings in the USA. Since 1963, he has held several solo exhibitions.