Collector Departs Art Organizations’ Boards After Allegedly Urging Violence Against Pro-Palestine Protestors

Collector Scott Lorinsky has left the boards of two art organizations after he was accused of urging drivers to hit pro-Palestine protestors with their cars.

The allegations were made public on Instagram by the account Decentralize Culture. The account told Hyperallergic, which first reported the news on Tuesday, that Lorinsky had “told multiple vehicles to ram through the crowd of protestors” during a New York protest on January 27.

Hyperallergic reported that Lorinsky has since departed the boards of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and Visual AIDS, a nonprofit focused on the ongoing impact of AIDS on the artistic community.

At CCS Bard, Lorinsky had underwritten an alumni award that doles out $10,000 to a past participant in the program. The award was just launched last year.

“In light of the recent allegations, Scott Lorinsky has stepped down from the board of CCS Bard,” a CCS Bard spokesperson said in a statement. “CCS Bard thanks Scott for his support over the years.”

A Visual AIDS spokesperson did not respond to request for comment.

Per Hyperallergic, Lorinsky had joined the CCS Bard board in 2018 and the Visual AIDS board in 2022. He is currently a managing director at Napier Park Global Capital, a New York–based asset management firm. According to Artnet News, as of mid-2023, Lorinsky had amassed a collection of 800 works.

An attempt to reach Lorinsky through a spokesperson for Napier Park was not immediately unsuccessful.