KIWI arts GROUP 2020 Reimagining
Bright Bright Great is excited to share the new brand experience for KIWI arts Group.
KIWI arts GROUP is a publishing house featuring the renowned American photographer William John Kennedy and his historic collection of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana photographs.
K.I.W.I stands for Kennedy Indiana Warhol Initiative. Established in the UK and the USA. KIWI now represents five extraordinary, award-winning multidisciplinary artists. Kiwi Arts Group was founded in 2010 to serve as an exclusive William John Kennedy archive photographed in the early 1960s at a time when Kennedy forged a friendship with both Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana. The images capture the two artists in an unprecedented way with their soon-to-be iconic works at the seminal point of their careers and birth of the Pop Art movement.
About William John Kennedy
American photographer William John Kennedy (b.1930) is best known for his rare body of photographic work from the early 60s featuring Andy Warhol and the famed LOVE artist Robert Indiana, just as their careers were taking off. The collection of rare images laid in storage for nearly 50 years, never having been viewed by the public.
In 2010 a full-length documentary film, Full Circle: Before They Were Famous, was produced and aired on public television in the United States introducing the images to the world. The documentary has played for thousands at multiple venues to include The Andy Warhol Museum, The British Museum and many others. The film coincided with the introduction of this key body of photographs to the public by KIWI Arts Group during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2010, quickly becoming some of the most recognized and important images of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana ever discovered.
The historical significance of Kennedy’s work with Andy Warhol to include Flowers, Self-Portrait, Marilyn, American Man, Race Riot and others have been recognized for their importance by the curator’s and director’s of the Andy Warhol Museum.
Today, the signature image Kennedy photographed in 1964 of Warhol holding the acetate used to make his Marilyn Monroe paintings stands over 4 meters tall as the focal point to the entry of the museum, and the complete Kennedy/Warhol Flowers series are part of the museum’s permanent collection. KIWI Arts Group collaborated with The Warhol Museum to create a special edition of 50 box sets that included five Kennedy images to raise funds for the museum, with the final set scheduled to be sold at Sotheby’s in the Fall of 2017.
