Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in first grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993. Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab—first in Boston, then after a time, in Chicago—which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work memoirs Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and Where To? A Hack Memoir (Curbside Splendor, 2014). He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffeeshops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up). He no longer drives a cab. He writes dog portraits and paints book reviews in Chicago, Illinois. You can see more of his work than you'd ever want to at dmitrysamarov.com.
