Author Description

Although it has been linked with distinct twentieth-century art practices--including abstraction, Minimalism and Conceptual art--Blinky Palermo's (1943-1977) diverse body of work defies easy classification. Throughout his brief and influential career, Palermo executed paintings, objects, installations and works on paper that addressed the contextual and semantic issues at stake in the construction, exhibition and reception of works of art. This publication focuses in depth on the artist's works on paper from 1976-1977, executed just prior to his untimely death in February 1977. Palermo's late work is characterized by its explorations of the tensions and contrasts between material and color, surface and depth, and signification and abstraction. These works on paper convey his understanding of color as a system of signs. This fully illustrated catalogue is the first to comprehensively address this facet of Palermo's practice and includes new scholarship by Christine Mehring and Christoph Schreier.