Blinky Palermo, Komposition mit 8 roten Rechtecken [Composition with 8 Red Rectangles], 1964. Oil paint and graphite on canvas. 37 3/4 x 43 3/4 in. (96 x 111 cm). Collection Olga Lina and Stella Liza Knoebel. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Jens ZieheWhat do a notorious Philadelphia Mafioso and a student of Joseph Beuys at the Dusseldorf Art Academy have in common? A name – and careers that were colorful in markedly different ways. Peter Heisterkamp, besotted by American culture, took the name of boxing manager/racketeer Frank “Blinky” Palermo as his own and forged a brief but influential career that was but a blip in the life of his namesake. Blinky Palermo, the man behind Jake LaMotta and Sonny Liston, died in 2006 at the ripe old age of 91. Blinky Palermo, the artist, died in 1977 at the age of 34. Who says boxing is more dangerous than art?
In the early 1960’s Palermo the artist fell under the spell of Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko, and his work in this era bridges the former’s color blocks of Rothko with the latter’s precison. Palermo moved to New York in 1973, and dedicated his masterpiece to the city, but since his untimely death his presence has been more felt than seen. The Hirshhorn presents the first major American retrospective of Palermo’s work, in a series of spaciously appointed galleries that throw exacting punches of color.
