Far, Dark Places
Craig Cromartie
September 4 - November 1, 2026
During his time in the prison system, Craig Cromartie found creative ways to occupy his mind. While locked away, Cromartie was able to expand his world through the exploration through imagined and remembered worlds, as he sought to escape the monotony and casual cruelty of America's penal system. Restricted to supplies available to those incarcerated, Cromartie devised entire worlds of psychedelic surrealism or fantasy melting into abstraction with colored pencils, tape, q-tips, and watercolors.
Making art that illustrates different periods in life, and their attendant struggles, his worlds often feature contradictions and opposing forces. Themes of mental health, journeys and decision making as well as the battle of good and evil, and the healing power of music, art and nature appear repeatedly. Through it all, the viewer and the tableaux are often under watch, as the theme of an all-seeing eye insinuates itself into many works, making the artist and the viewer alike amongst those the works surveils.
About the Artist
Craig Cromartie was born and raised in and around Boston, MA. He spent his youth running errands for his elders in the Old Dudley neighborhood as well as Dorchester, Roxbury, Mission Hill, and the lower South End. But soon life began to spiral out of control: a house fire separated his family of ten siblings and he ended up dropping out of school in the 6th grade. Peer pressure and a young mind led to a life of crime and constant arrests. He spent over twenty years in and out of the court system, and at the age of forty-six Cromartie found himself imprisoned once again. However, this time he found a new outlet to express himself. Through art he was allowed to express the trauma and pain of childhood and reflect on life choices.
Cromartie has found a love for creating and sharing his art. Since his release in late 2025 he has turned his efforts toward creating new art and exhibiting the works he made while in prison. Now, Cromartie continues to expand on his experiences in the world outside of prison. You may find him rolling around the streets of Roxbury, MA in his cart, painting en plein air. His new works are inspired by this expanded world and a bright open future.
About the Curator
Marla L. McLeod explores identity and social constructs within Black communities through her portrait paintings, textiles, and sculptures. In 2022 she held a solo exhibition at Essex Arts Center in Lowell, MA and is an artist in the New England Triennial at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Fruitlands Museum.
In 2021 she received a Walter Feldman Fellowship, awarded by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston and was a spotlighted artist interviewed by Cristela Guerra at WBUR/NPR Boston. 2021 has seen her work in several Boston based art galleries, as well as at Tufts University Art Galleries. Her MFA thesis made her a featured artist on the MFA, Boston 2020 Takeover Fridays social media project, the 2020 Area Code Art Fair StoreFronts Projects, and one of the Boston Globes “5 Outstanding Art School Grads”. She has received the Will and Elena Barnet Painting Award, a Tisch Library Graduate Research Fellowship, and presented at Black Portraitures, NYU.
She was awarded a Post Graduate Teaching Fellowship at the SMFA and has taught courses at Southern Connecticut State University. McLeod is currently an Adjunct Professor at Maine College of Art (MECA), Boston College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).