Author Archives: dsamarov

I’d never heard of the Highland Clearances when June Sawyers asked me to illustrate her play about them. That play, along with Sawyers’ book on the subject, Bearing the People Away, proved to be invaluable resources as I worked away at the twenty-seven watercolor and Sumi ink paintings that comprise my contribution to her project.Continue reading “The Highland Clearances”

I’m not an exhibitionist. I’ve never been to a nude beach or nudist colony. But my place has always been clothing-optional. Especially through miserable Chicago summers, the idea of having anything on inside feels absurd. Now that K spends time here, this way of being means something else too, but mostly, it’s still just aContinue reading “Sin Ropas”

Ever since Chicago Film Society screened When A Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960), I’ve been down a Mikio Naruse funnel. That movie was relentlessly brutal but seductive at the same time. I’ve watched a bunch of others and the man is a connoisseur of human suffering. Every way one person can torment another is exploredContinue reading “Naruse”