Blinky Palermo: To the People of New York City

Exhibition Website

Sep 15 2018 - Mar 9 2019

Dia: Chelsea

New York City, NY

To the People of New York City is a multipartite group of paintings whose palette is derived from the colors of the German flag and titled, posthumously, from a dedication that Palermo inscribed on the backs of the metal panels. 

To the People of New York City was discovered in Palermo’s studio after his death in February 1977. Consisting of fifteen parts—composed from forty painted aluminum panels arranged in various combinations of black, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow—the demarcated bands of color in To the People of New York City read as striking, didactic signs that may reference the early twentieth-century abstract painting of Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian.

In addition to the paintings, the exhibition includes Palermo’s preparatory studies—a selection of watercolors and felt pen sketches on parchment paper—on which he recorded ideas about the singular arrangement of the painted panels. The studies provide insight into the evolution of this comprehensive cycle of painting.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.         

  • Various Media
  • International
  • 20th Century
  • Blinky Palermo

Exhibition Venues & Dates