12:12: Nick Smith’s watch works in RHODES’s summer group show

RHODES brought twelve artists together for 12:12, its summer group exhibition at 65 Great Portland Street, London. The gallery’s main exhibition record gives a public run of 7–29 August 2026, following a private view on 6 August from 6–8pm. Its separate viewing room lists 5 September as the end date. With no explanation of that difference, the later online date does not establish an extension of the physical exhibition. Exhibition record; Viewing room.

A group show without a common brief

Rather than asking everyone to illustrate one subject, RHODES invited each participant to present work characteristic of their practice. That structure matters when reading Nick Smith’s four watch collages: their reflection on time belongs to his contribution, rather than supplying a curatorial theme for the whole room. The selection placed recognisable objects, figures, landscapes and abstraction alongside one another. It offered a survey of the gallery’s different visual languages through original works. Gallery introduction and selected works.

Smith’s contribution comprised Coral Perpetual, Pink Perpetual, Turquoise Perpetual and Daytona, all based on Rolex models. RHODES described the group as his first exploration of watches, following July’s Pool Diaries exhibition. The subject extends an existing interest in objects whose significance exceeds their practical function: the gallery connects it with his earlier attention to trainer culture and art-auction prices. Recognition is the invitation to look, but the object’s status is only the beginning of the reading. RHODES on the watch works.

Reading beyond the watch face

Each collage has twenty-four rows, linking the hours of a day to different reasons for gratitude. Smith uses a familiar emblem of ownership to consider the opportunities and small privileges that time permits. That produces a useful tension between measuring time and attending to it: the watch offers an instantly legible image, while the row-by-row text asks for a slower encounter. The gallery traces his colour-chip method to the swatches he encountered as an interior designer, later developing his own images and individually captioned chips. Here, that construction is integral to the subject rather than simply a way to reproduce a luxury accessory. Series and process.

The broader selection gives that measured construction a varied setting. Helen Bermingham’s A Hundred Tomorrows and Carsten Beck’s Twin Frequencies appear in the gallery’s selected works alongside Smith’s watches; the accompanying introduction distinguishes Bermingham’s layered treatment of memory from Beck’s architectural geometry. Those differences provide viewing comparisons without suggesting that the artists collaborated or followed the same programme. For collectors, the four named Smith originals are the precise exhibition connection. The August opening and the gallery’s later news post document their presentation, but neither supplies an independently verified first-sale date. Exhibited works and artist context.