Nick Smith’s Ode to the Bed: Alba, Vesper and their distinct originals

Nick Smith’s Alba and Vesper prints were released by RHODES Editions on 26 March 2026 at 4 p.m. GMT, each in an edition of forty. Together they form Ode to the Bed, a paired study of a reclining figure that moves from the openness of morning toward evening withdrawal. Each print was announced at £1,250 plus postage and packing. RHODES marks both editions sold at the 8 October check. The separately listed Alba original and Vesper — Microchip are different physical works, with their own sizes and materials. Artist’s announcement, publisher’s release.

A pair organised around a change in attention

The two images gain meaning through their relationship. In Alba, the reclining figure faces outward; Vesper turns away. Smith connects their names with dawn and evening, and describes the project as a return to ideas explored in Paramour a decade earlier. He places less emphasis here on provocation and more on the everyday experience of resting, recovering and letting the day go. Read together, the works suggest movement through time without showing an unfolding action. The shift is carried by posture, orientation and accompanying text.

That is a productive use of Smith’s colour-chip construction. At a distance, the body and bedding resolve into an image; closer viewing separates the chips and brings the language forward. The viewer changes pace and viewing distance, moving between recognition and reading. In a diptych about the rituals surrounding rest, that slowing of attention is more than a technical curiosity. It provides a way of encountering a familiar domestic subject without exhausting it in a single glance.

What the print editions share

Both sheets measure 62 × 60 cm and combine giclée with a screenprinted varnish overlay on Canson Rag Photographique 310 gsm paper. The publisher specifies a hand-torn deckled edge, pencil signature, numbering and date, plus the artist’s and RHODES Editions’ blindstamps. These shared features make them a closely matched pair, but the forty-copy allocation belongs to each image separately. The source does not establish a numbered matched-pair package or a separate proof allocation.

The varnish introduces another physical layer into images composed from apparently flat blocks of colour. RHODES describes its gloss as lightly marzipan-scented; that is the publisher’s description, rather than a firsthand sensory assessment. The combination of printed image, selective surface and torn edge is worth considering when deciding how to frame a sheet, particularly if the deckle is intended to remain visible.

The originals are not larger print variants

RHODES also documents a 2026 Alba original: a 425-colour-chip collage on Fabriano 5 300 gsm paper, signed and dated, framed, and measuring 62 × 64 cm. Its dimensions differ from the print despite the shared title. Vesper — Microchip is another 425-chip collage on the same stated paper, measuring 45 × 37 cm and offered framed. Its currently displayed £5,000 is an enquiry price observed in the gallery catalogue, not a verified launch price. The gallery marks Alba sold. Alba original, Vesper — Microchip.

Those collages make the assembled chip structure a literal part of the object, whereas the editions translate the imagery through giclée and varnish. A comparison therefore needs medium and measurements as well as title. The originals’ first sale dates are unconfirmed; the March print launch should not be assigned to them. The four exact records below retain these distinctions while letting the paired images be considered together.