GEORGE COCHRANE: LONG TIME COMING...

 Long Time Gone is an ongoing Graphic Novel, conceived, designed and being written by the Brooklyn NY based artist George Cochrane. It tells an autobiographical tale in 24 chapters, but spanning just one day and night, with each 24 page chapter depicting one hour's events and atmosphere. Modelled on Homer's Odyssey (told in 24 chapters) and James Joyce's Ulysses (the Odyssey compressed into one day), the chapters are emerging separately and in sequence. Cochrane works with his young daughter Fiamma on the novel (she was 6 years old when he started and is now 10), incorporating ideas, drawings and writing of hers. In fine postmodernist tradition the result will be a creative work partly about the creative process itself.

The title is taken from the Bob Dylan song ‘Long Time Gone', which, when the project began, was still a relatively obscure old recording and still unreleased. This confesses Cochrane's interest in inserting into his narrative Dylan songs not commonly known outside of collector circles - including ‘Bring It On Home' and ‘Sign On The Cross' from the Basement Tapes, ‘Lonesome River Edge' from the Banjo Tape and so on. These lyrics are woven into the story along with references to the history of Western Fine Art, comics, jazz (especially Lester Young and Charlie Parker) and what Cochrane calls “certain works of canonical literature".

Some of Long Time Gone's pages have also been exhibited: at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA and at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, MN.

The first four chapters have been published, have sold out and are now being reprinted. They are, respectively, ‘Bird Gets the Worm', ‘A Nick of Time', ‘In A Mist' and ‘Calypso Tap Number'. There are also two wanderings-off from this main structure so far: smaller print-run and different-shaped volumes numbered 3a and 4.4. Cochrane is working on the latter and on the main Chapter 5. His website is here.