blinky palermo was a german abstract painter.palermo was born peter schwarze in leipzig, germany, in 1943, and adopted as an infant, with his twin brother, michael, by foster parents named heisterkamp. he adopted his outlandish name in 1964, during his studies with bruno goller and joseph beuys at the kunstakademie düsseldorf between 1962 and 1967. the name refers to frank "blinky" palermo, an american mafioso and boxing promoter who managed sonny liston. in 1969, palermo moved to mönchengladbach and set up a studio he would share with imi knoebel and ulrich rückriem. after a stay in new york…