Whether it’s the first wave, second wave, or third wave, the endless summer of Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc on every shore around the art world. For commercial galleries that haven’t wiped out already, it’s sink or swim.

Buoyed by multimillion-dollar bailouts from the US taxpayer, the Swiss behemoth Hauser & Wirth appears unsinkable, avoiding layoffs and finding fresh legs for new spaces and initiatives. But now some of its top riders are bravely bidding farewell to the golden barrel. Graham Steele, the Canadian who initially helped open White Cube in Hong Kong, defected to the Cube’s arch-competitor in 2015 to direct the conglomerate’s all-in-one lifestyle compound in Los Angeles. Early this year Steele was bumped up to a partner at the Alpine powerhouse, but in July he decided to find his own wave with his husband, the design dealer Ulysses de Santi. Apparently the compulsively pragmatic H&W didn’t issue a non-compete clause, signaling that they will continue to raft-up with Steele. One way to describe this ménage-a-quatre is: “They’re special friends.”