Alexei Kallima was born in Chechnya in 1969. But he had to leave Grozny in 1994 because of the war and came to Moscow. Now he’s known as perhaps the only contemporary Russian artist working with the Chechen theme.
Henchmen, 2005, private collection, Moscow
His heroes are young Chechens. Maybe they’re terrorists or just illegal immigrants. Unshaven, arrayed in Adidas tracksuits, dark glasses and woolly hats. For some of his graffiti Kallima uses fluorescent paint only visible in the rays of «black light». So his art works can materialise just in a darkened room but when ordinary lights are switched on the picture disappears. Kallima's heroes only inhabit the dark as well. To say the truth we know nothing about Chechnya. By the way one of such Alexei Kallima’s scene (the monumental fresco 'Chelsea-Terek' showing an imaginary match between the English and Chechen football clubs) earned the Innovation 2005 Prize in the nomination «A work of visual art».
From one hand sport and tracksuits are really the constituents of everyday life among marginal sectors. A lot of bandits of ninties are grown from such a marginal areas. But from other hand art historians like to find in the Kallima’s creative work the references to the revolutionary photographs by Alexandr Rodchenko and socialist realism by Alexandr Deineka that used to glorify sport.
For the Venice biennale 2009 (Russian Pavilion) Kallima made the project «Rain Theorem». The heroes of his fresco (sport fans crowded in a stadium) locked together with one impulse. The theory of the crowd in his art interpretation is a way to examine the people’s individuality. Each person on his large-scale fresco has his own face. One can see this work only in «black light» too. 
Also Alexei often works with charcoal.
The Fold, 2006 , private collection, Moscow
Sliding, private collection, Moscow
2005, private collection, Moscow
Last month Alexey Kallima make quite unaccustomed for him art project «Chechnya’s women’s team in parachute jumping» in M&J Guelman gallery. He used charcoal and sanguine, his paintings were clearly visible in the day light. And his girls in the air became for me the symbols of newly resurgent happy and non-belligerent Chechnya. I hope. 
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