Vanity Fair has come out with its list of 100 most powerful influentials, most of which—since they've already been covered by various lists in Time (the Time 100), Forbes (celebs and richest Americans) and elsewhere—come as no surprise.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and Google boys Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt are all in the top 10, followed closely behind by David Geffen, Bill Clinton and billionaire Ronald Perelman.

But there do appear to be some changes from last year's list. Some powerful names have sunk or even disappeared to make room for names in fashion and entertainment.  read more »

That is what Melik Kaylan asks in this Wall Street Journal piece. He thinks international art star Damien Hirst is cutting out the middle men of the art world, gallerists, since he's decided to auction his pieces directly from Sotheby's (the preview for the Sept. 15 and 16 auction is happening in the Hamptons this weekend, btw). Is this just more evidence of Mr. Hirst's "titanic Duchampian originality, as if even the way he plans to sell his work is a radical new art form"? Or is he really upending the art market as we know it?

There is some speculation that this might be a pivotal moment, like the end of the studio system in movies or the continuing decline of the record labels in the music business.

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Fancy Hamptons art fiends will be checking the mail early today, as Sotheby's is sending out exclusive invitations to a preview of their three-catalog sale of Damien Hirst's works. The actual auction takes place in London on Sept. 15 and 16. But on Aug. 28, Hamptons-dwelling VIPs will see 10 highlights from the "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" auction at the East End of Long Island. The New York Sun reports that a reception will be at the Bridge Club, Bridgehampton.

Damien Hirst will parade out a circus of pickled animals for a Sotheby's auction in September. A new shark, a zebra, a calf with solid gold horns and hoofs, and even a unicorn are on the block along with 200 other pieces. Oliver Barker, senior international specialist at the auction house, described the new works to the Guardian as "ambitious, exquisite and incredibly powerful."

The Guardian reports:  read more »

Page Six is reporting that designer Marc Jacobs married his partner, Lorenzo Martone, despite Mr. Jacobs' rep's public denial of the story. [FWD]

Jon Voight has penned an op-ed in the Washington Times comparing Barack Obama's campaign to Marxist propaganda and predicting that if Senator Obama is elected president, we will "live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way." [Us Weekly]

Restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow's 22-year-old son, Zachary Chodorow, has been selling $20 kobe beef hot dogs from a cart outside the Lily Pond nightclub in East Hampton nextdoor to his father's Kobe Club restaurant.  read more »

Last week, we told you about Esquire's new column by author and academic Stephen Marche, the first installment of which focusses on the return of the skull as a fashionable, and sometimes pricey, cultural commodity. The article cites a diamond-encrusted platinum skull that original Young Bullshit Artist—er, we mean, Young British Artist, Damien Hirst sold for $100 million in 2007. Now, the 43-year-old international art sensation has some new pieces up for sale at astronomical prices. Reuters, which describes Mr. Hirst as "one of contemporary art's most bankable stars," reports that Sotheby's is set to auction off a series of his extravagant works in London this September.  read more »

Last night, at the Neue Galerie's 6th annual Winter Gala, Zac Posen talked to us about art. While a number of art-world folks are abuzz over the current, exploding art market, the 27-year old fashion phenom said he's not impressed with the way things are going.

"Nothing new has happened really since Andy Warhol," he told The Daily Transom, adding that Damien Hirst, the British creator of the infamous $100 million dollar diamond-encrusted skull, "is really a modern-day replica of Andy Warhol, you know, the whole idea of repetition."

"I'm not into chic safety or chic banality, just in creating art," added the designer, clad in his signature scarf, black boots and a stand-out plaid suit that was, of course, extremely well-tailored. "I feel on my artistic side I've been able to take more risks than anybody in the U.S."  read more »

Mark Wallinger has been named the winner of the Turner Prize for his replica of Brian Haw's 2001 anti-war protest in Parliament Square, State Britain. Dennis Hopper presented him the £25,000 award at a ceremony at the Tate Liverpool gallery last night. Mr. Wallinger first made the shortlist in 1995, but lost out to Damien Hirst.  read more »

Branding is threatening not only journalism, as Doree Shafrir wrote in this week's Observer, but also art. ARTnews examines Damien Hirst's omni-presence in all aspects of the art world. "Clearly, Hirst has become more than a famous artist—he has become a global brand."

While most of his money comes from the sale of artwork, he continues to find new ways to turn his artistic reputation and notoriety into successful sidelines. He has a company, Other Criteria, that licenses his imagery, creates products, and sells them on the Web. In addition to Hirst’s own prints, editions, books, posters, and T-shirts, the company markets the wares of other artists. And this is just one piece of an umbrella corporation, Science Ltd., that oversees Hirst’s vast studios, 120 employees, and other business interests.

Cue that foreboding Jaws soundtrack! Damien Hirst’s The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, otherwise known as the huge Tiger shark suspended in 4,360 gallons of formaldehyde, has arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and will be on display starting today.

The MET will also debut “Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples” today and “Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor,” opening Oct. 17.

According to the press release, Hirst’s “seminal, 22-ton work – which was created in 1991 and was displayed as part of the collection of its previous owner, Charles Saatchi, in the 1997-2000 London/Berlin/New York exhibition Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection – has been recently refurbished by the artist, who replaced the original tiger shark with the current one” after it began to rot.

The work will be displayed in the wing's second-floor Lila Acheson Wallace Gallery, which overlooks Central Park.

Read more for information on other displays at the MET this week.  read more »