Blinky Palermo

Peter Heistermann, better known as Blinky Palermo, began his artistic career in 1962 at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Initially in the class of Bruno Goller, he soon switched to that of Joseph Beuys and was appointed his master student. His friendships with Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Ulrich Rückriem and Imi Koebel played a formative role in his artistic self-discovery. During this period, he began to sign all his works with the artist pseudonym “Palermo”, which his circle of artist friends had bestowed upon him, as he bore a certain resemblance to the American boxing agent and Mafioso “Frank Blinky Palermo”. After completing his studies in 1969, he moved into a studio in Mönchengladbach on the recommendation of the museum director at the time, Johannes Cladders. Together with Ulrich Rückriem and Imi Knoebel, he founded a studio community there. From the time of his studies, he increasingly explored the reduced geometric language of form, but above all the interrelationship between form and colour were recurring impulses in his work. When he travelled to New York in 1970 with his fellow student and painter friend Gerhard Richter, he met Robert Ryman and James Rosenquist, among others. He was strongly influenced by the art movements of the time, “American Expressionism” and “Minimalism”. Under Harald Szeemann’s direction, Palermo took part in the 5th documenta in Kassel in 1972 and achieved great international recognition. Together with Imi Knoebel, he undertook another author’s tour across North America a few years later in 1974. During this phase, he produced drawings as well as several of his metal paintings. Returning to Düsseldorf, Palermo moved into Gerhard Richter’s former studio in 1976 and took part in the XIII Sao Paulo Biennial together with Georg Baselitz and Sigmar Polke, where he presented his newly created metal paintings. The 34-year-old artist died unexpectedly during a holiday trip to the Maldives in 1977.