Imagine the New York art scene in the 1960s- historically it was a pivotal period in so many ways, and on the eve of Andy Warhol’s worldwide fame. From the first moment I stepped into his “Factory,” I immediately sensed the enormous importance of what this guy was doing. You could feel the electricity running through his veins, you just knew his vision would shape the future in a major way. I wanted to capture that energy.    
       - William John Kennedy

Shot in the early 1960s when photographer William John Kennedy forged a friendship with Andy Warhol, these images capture the artist and his soon-to-be iconic works at the seminal point in his career and the birth of the Pop Art Movement. Kennedy’s extraordinary photographs - most of which were purposely kept in storage for nearly fifty years - serve as an invaluable insight into the pivotal moments and players who shaped the course of American Art in the second half of the Twentieth Century. This exhibition transports the viewer through a brief moment in time in which our cultural and political history was forever altered. Kennedy’s rare and unique images offer a glimpse into “The Factory,” Warhol’s studio in New York City, presenting a distinct reference point for many emerging and contemporary artists working today.

Having finished his studies in Visual Arts and while working as the assistant to Clifford Coffin, one of fashion’s most innovative photographers at Vogue, Kennedy became enthralled with New York City’s art scene. He witnessed and immersed himself in the raw energy of his contemporaries who formed the nucleus of a movement that would change the way the world viewed contemporary art.

Arguably the most paradigm shifting artist in American history, these portraits of Warhol show an intimate perspective into his practice as he, a celebrity himself, began to hyper-produce images of American iconography. Kennedy’s seminal images show a working Warhol unrolling the acetate used in the creation of his Marilyn Monroe series, making calls with his assistant at his side, editing film reels, and drying the first iterations of his now famous flower paintings outside in a nearby flowering lot.