COURTESY MODERN PAINTERS
Just months after he was named editor-in-chief of Modern Painters, Scott Indrisek has been let go, he announced in an email obtained by ARTnews. Indrisek’s forced departure coincides with the exit of another top-ranking employee of that magazine’s parent company, Louise Blouin Media, David Gursky, who most recently held the position of president of global development and publisher of Art + Auction, another magazine within its stable. Gursky left on his own volition.
Indrisek had been with LBM for nearly seven years in various editorial positions, and Gursky had been on board since 2013. He had worked for LBM for six years earlier in his career, leaving in 2009 to join the Observer Media Group.
Gursky could not be immediately reached for comment; Indrisek, when reached for comment, declined.
Louise Blouin did not respond to an email to indicate the cause for termination, and neither did Tom DeKay, the editorial director of Artinfo Media, the stable’s online presence. But in his email, Indrisek makes reference to “unexpected budget cuts.”
“The kind in which you terminate your editor-in-chief midway through the closing of your March/April issue,” he added.
Sources indicated that these budget cuts necessitated belt-tightening by way of losing either Indrisek or the magazine’s executive editor, Rachel Corbett, who remains in her position. DeKay did not respond to an email asking to confirm whether Corbett is now acting as the editor-in-chief, but the magazine is indeed in the middle of a close.
Also gone from the Modern Painters masthead is the novelist Chris Kraus, who was recruited to come onboard as a contributing editor last year. The relationship was severed a few weeks ago, sources said.