Nick Smith PARADISE: one edition, fair and online allocations

PARADISE was released as an edition of forty-four through RHODES Editions in May 2026. The 74-by-74-centimetre print combines giclée with a screenprinted varnish overlay on 310gsm Canson Rag Photographique. It is signed, numbered and dated in pencil, with both the artist’s and RHODES Editions’ blindstamps. The announced price was £1,300. The publisher’s current artist catalogue marks this edition sold. Artist announcement; publisher catalogue.

Its original access arrangement matters to the release history. Sales began at the London Original Print Fair on 14 May at 11 a.m. London time, at RHODES’ stand S13. The artist said those copies were available first come, first served and could be taken away rolled. An unspecified number was reserved for the online release on 16 May at midday London time. Those are two sales allocations within one edition, not evidence for an additional online-exclusive version. Neither source states how many of the forty-four were assigned to each route.

PARADISE belongs to POOL DIARIES and follows an inflatable flamingo through 728 minutes beside a swimming pool. Smith describes the accompanying text as a diary that moves from morning inflation to evening deflation. This distinguishes the release from his earlier reworkings of Hockney’s pool imagery: the current series uses pools as settings for his own timestamped observations. RHODES traces that interest back to his 2015 A Bigger Splash reworking, but identifies POOL DIARIES as a new direction first shown in Miami in 2025. The relationship is thematic; the 2026 print is not a reissue of the 2015 edition.

The word PARADISE also names several original works in the July 2026 exhibition. The gallery’s PARADISE — MICROCHIP is a signed 551-colour-chip collage on 300gsm Fabriano 5, measuring 36 by 35 centimetres and offered framed. A PARADISE — LIGHTBOX appears as another separate work. Compared with the editioned giclée-and-varnish print, the Microchip is a different construction at roughly half the linear scale. The shared subject does not justify transferring its frame, size or price to the print. POOL DIARIES works.

For an existing example, the most useful checks are the edition of forty-four, the square 74-centimetre format, the paper specification and the two blindstamps. The fair’s rolled collection arrangement is also a reason to ask how a particular sheet has subsequently been stored or framed, without assuming damage from the original delivery method. No AP count is stated in the inspected print record. A later primary reopening would be a new sale event for this same edition and should not be mistaken for a new numbered run.