DAMIEN HIRST CUTS OUT THE MIDDLE MAN AND GOES STRAIGHT TO THE AUCTION HOUSE

In a move that some say has the potential to change the face of art dealing, Mr. Hirst has cut out his dealers — the New York-based Gagosian Gallery and the White Cube in London — and taken his work straight to auction. Last summer thousands of people lined up outside White Cube waiting to glimpse a human skull cast in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds. Mr. Hirst claimed to have sold the piece at its $100 million asking price. But the buyer is said to have been a consortium of investors that included Mr. Hirst himself; Jay Jopling, owner of White Cube; and Frank Dunphy, Mr. Hirst’s business manager.