Larry Calkins: a lot of Lincoln, a lot to think about

Abraham Lincoln: you know him, you love him, right? Well, maybe not. You don’t know Lincoln like Larry Calkins knows Lincoln.

The sixteenth American president is all over Gallery IMA; not surprising once you learn Calkins “love[s] Lincoln because he is like a god, something other.” Even some of the non-Lincoln pieces seem to take on his features: the tall, rigid chair of the sculpture “Writing Desk,” the dark patches on “Moon Boat” that look vaguely like a face in a tintype photo.

It seems apropos that the artist centers Lincoln in a way that calls up images, and nightmares, of childhood. Even now, schools present Lincoln to kids as the guy in the stovepipe hat who freed the slaves. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and led the Civil War — but only after enslaved people had led massive rebellions or freed themselves. Later, he successfully pushed Congress to pass the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery nationwide… which is great except for that little loophole prisons often use to exploit inmate labor.

Such a larger-than-life reputation makes me think of Seattle’s own image to people living outside the Northwest. Seattle still gets a lot of mileage out of being A Progressive City in a blue state. The reality is more complicated, especially for brown and black people. Given the chance to end a ban on affirmative action, this blue state decided, “… nah.” Recently, a teen author was even more blunt about being a person of color in Seattle schools: The book is titled “You Failed Us.” Larry Calkins’ work is thought-provoking, but perhaps only to those ready to do some more thinking.