Viacheslav Kalinin was born in Moscow in 1939. He graduated from the Abramtsevo Industrial Art Institute in 1961. His first exhibitions date back to the early 1960s, but were often closed within several hours after they had opened. He was recognized for his talent early on, and was supported by the Moscow art collectors A. Glezer, V. Dudanov, and Y. Rubinshtein, and the American journalist E. Stevens.
Together with Shteinberg, Plavinsky, Rabin, and Tselkov, he participated in the famous Beekeeping Pavilion Exhibit in 1975. Kalinin’s art is informed by German Expressionism, and the literary tradition of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian culture. The subjects of Kalinin’s compositions derive from his childhood experiences in the world of crowded communal apartments, and from his nostalgic images of old Moscow. His art creates its own mythology, and his characters travel from one painting to another, riding a merry-go-round in one, playing cards or attending a carnival in others.
Many of Kalinin’s works can be found in museums in Russia and in private collections in Russia and the West. The artist spends time in both Russia and the United States.