Dmitry Samarov

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 memoir 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 paints and writes in Chicago, Illinois. He no longer drives a cab.