Biography

Blinky Palermo was a German painter who created playful abstractions which confronted the formal aspects of traditional Modernist paintings, including those by Kazimir Malevich, Barnett Newman, and Ellsworth Kelly. Born Peter Schwarze on June 2, 1943 in Leipzig, Germany, he was adopted by the Heisterkamp family whose name he took until 1964, when he changed it to Blinky Palermo—an alias used by Frank Palermo, the Italian-American Mafioso and boxing promoter. The artist's work is characterized by his vibrant color palette and austere compositions, which evoke the simplicity of Minimalist iconography and Modern abstraction. Palermo went on to study under Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, alongside Sigmar Polke, and Gerhard Richter. His works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., among others. The artist died on February 18, 1977 in Kurumba Maldives, Maldives.