I DON'T WANT TO PAY THE FULL PRICE (2008)

Kennedy's large scale wall-text painting, I DON'T WANT TO PAY THE FULL PRICE, and his wall painting, THE EIGHT BANNERS (a Chinese History Painting), came out of a two-part artist residency he did alongside Cathy Busby, hosted by the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, China, between 2007-08. 

During the residencies Kennedy centred his attention on the local usage of coloured flags in communicating various messages. In 2007, Kennedy focused on the banner system of The Eight Banners, a 17th c. Chinese military organization, who had used coloured of flags as an administrative structure to both differentiated between companies and visually surveil the population.  

In 2008, Kennedy focused on the colours of "event flags" which were used around the city to indicate various events or city projects, including construction. By borrowing the title, I DON'T WANT TO PAY THE FULL PRICE, from the 2006 edition of the Lonely Planet Phrasebook—Mandarin, he paired a phrase of daily market bargaining with the larger socio-economic costs of city projects which were especially prevalent during the 2008 Beijing Olympic year. The resulting large scale wall-text painting was written in both English and Mandarin, employing the colours of these flags which were replicated in the gallery installation.

Both wall painting works were re-articulated in 2009 for Beijing-Vancouver, a two-person show with Cathy Busby at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. This exhibition was a summary of both artists' residency projects which had been exhibited at Pickled Art Centre (Beijing) in the fall of the previous two years.