Those Colorado winters had a kind of magic for Cochran; he could see the Continental Divide and the Denver skyline from his uncle's living room in the sky. May was a captivating storyteller (spend an afternoon with Cochran and you'll find he inherited a similar gift for storytelling) and an exceptional art collector; his print collection spanned 1,200 pieces and spanned 500 years, from Rembrandt to Picasso.
“Without my uncle's influence, I might have been a lost soul,” recalls Cochran, who shared a passion for art collecting and aspired to dedicate his life to it. His uncle convinced him that art was a good investment and a hedge against inflation.
In one of the many letters he wrote to Cochran over the years, he explained, “The joy of watching an artist's planet in action up close is a rare thing in human society. It is a lonely journey. Few around you can comprehend the enormity of your undertaking. Drink continually from that bottomless fountain of joy and bask in the meadows of self-realization.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Today, Cochran and his wife, Missy, are widely respected collectors and gallery owners of 20th century prints. Their collection includes nearly two decades of Warhol silkscreens, as well as numerous prints by masters such as Jasper Johns, Jean Miro, Will Barnett, Alexander Calder, Jim Dine and Roy Lichtenstein.
But perhaps most notable is a collection of more than 500 original sculptures, drawings, silkscreens, and lithographs by African-American artists, which was recently purchased by Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum, with select works on display this summer in the John Howett Works on Paper Gallery.
“This is an incredible collection, and it's impossible to replicate,” says Andy MacKenzie, the museum's curator of prints, “It's the largest collection of works on paper by African-American artists ever owned in a private hands. Wes and Missy are just the most amazing people, and they're so happy to share their work.”
Cochran's life story, or at least the way he tells it, has a fairy-tale quality to it, a story in which larger-than-life figures appear to impart wisdom and demand in return only dedication and hard work.
“You have to have confidence in yourself and never waver,” he says, reflecting on what it took to face his destiny.
They met in 1981 and married four years later. Cochran worked as a stone mason and Missy as a high school math teacher. Now in their 60s and both retired, their bond is easy and relaxed.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Wes is tall and broad-shouldered, usually wearing colorful shirts, beaded ornaments, and hats—fedoras, boaters, gambler-style—with a cigar protruding from his mouth at all times, chewing but never smoking. Petite and smartly dressed, Missy exudes a quiet charm that complements Cochran's looming presence.
One day he will be sitting at his big, gleaming desk in LaGrange’s main square, in front of the Cochrane Gallery, across from the big park and fountain.
The 2,300-square-foot gallery opened in 2007 and features exhibits that change approximately every two months. It currently features figurative works by painter Tom Burns. The “Slow Exposures” photography exhibit opens on September 27.
“I've known the Cochrans for 20 years,” says author Pam Avery, “and what's so unique about them is their unpretentious, inclusive attitude. No matter who walks into the gallery, Wes makes them feel at home. That's an art in itself.”
The Cochrans' collection is on display in more than 200 museums. Wes makes his own crates for shipping — “I was a truck driver and delivery man when I first started,” he says — but these days the museum handles the shipping.
Their collections were largely shaped by two very different and flamboyant mentors.
The first was Cochran's Uncle May, who told him to “break all your pencils, buy a box of work gloves, go to an oil rig overseas, and invest the money in art.” Soon after, Cochran got a job drilling offshore in the Persian Gulf. The work was hard and dangerous, but the pay was good, and he began sending money to his uncle to buy art. His first purchase was a Salvador Dali painting for $1,200. When Cochran returned to LaGrange two years later, he had a starter collection of 10 prints that included works by Alexander Calder, Karel Appel, and Romare Bearden.
“The greatest surprise of my life was when I finally got home and saw my collection for the first time,” he recalls. “I was shocked, but also intrigued. It was very modern, a lot of abstract stuff. It was all new to me at the time.”
For ten years, May selected every print the Cochrans bought. “I just worked and saved to build up my collection. Anything I had left over I spent on art,” he recalls. Then, in 1987, his uncle died after a battle with cancer, leaving no contact card.
“My father always said that in the mainstream New York gallery system, I would be a lamb among wolves. We were a little lost. Missy and I had to stand on our own two feet.”
But within six months, the Cochrans were sitting in the 4,000-square-foot New York City loft of Camille Billops, a charismatic black artist, archivist, filmmaker and librarian who would become their second mentor.
Cochran recalls the day he called her out of the blue: “She asked me if I was black or white, and I said, 'I'm white,' and she said, 'Well, come and see me anyway.' She was as flamboyant and charismatic as my uncle, always wearing coral jewelry, dramatic Egyptian makeup, and a huge 10-gallon black hat. We spent four or five hours on our first visit, and she gave us stacks of books to carry. She told us to read and learn about the subject before buying art.”
He still considers meeting her a twist of fate: “At times I felt like my uncle had been reincarnated in this woman.” A friendship that has lasted three decades blossomed, and the Cochrans now consider her a true curator of their African-American collection.
These days, the Cochrans split their time between the modest brick house in La Grange where Missy grew up and a stone house Wes designed and built in the woods 30 minutes away, where they also keep horses.
One of their greatest joys is sharing their collection with viewers, and when a visitor asked to see a Jasper Johns work up close, they were shown a lithograph titled “Viola,” one of only 70 in existence.
Inspired by American choreographer and dancer Viola Farber, the print features painterly floating rectangles in grey and white, overlapping names of dancers in bold and light letters, and mysterious spoons and forks standing erect like alert guards, connected to each other at the margins. (Wes says the cutlery references the way choreographer Merce Cunningham tethered himself to his dancers with giant rubber bands.) The print's harmonies are serene, sensual, and haunting. Its power to inspire, engross, and evoke speaks to the magic of art. Through fate, good fortune, and hard work, the Cochrans have lived by and for that magic, and now they're sharing it with others.
Cochran Gallery. “Tom Burns Art” runs through Sept. 7. “Slow Exposure” opens Sept. 27. 4 E. Lafayette Square, LaGrange. [email protected], www.facebook.com/TheCochranGallery
