Spencer Tinkham, NSS, is part of The Ark, an exhibition at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, NY. The exhibition is open through August 30, 2026.

‘Jonah Below’ – 120” x 36” x 48″ – Western Red Cedar, bluestone and oil paint

“Like obelisks, the humpback whale fins in Jonah Below rise as markers of scale, memory, and presence. One holds human scale; the other extends far beyond it. Drawing loosely from the story of Jonah, the work explores what it means to exist beneath forces larger than oneself. The surfaces retain traces of strain, accumulation, and time. Rather than symbols, the fins operate as architectural presences shaped by bodily scale and orientation. Jonah Below holds a tension between monument and body, shelter and collapse, permanence and instability.“ – Spencer Tinkham

Curated by Eric Fischl, The Ark brings together 90 sculptures and installations in myriad materials. The Ark refers directly to the myth of the Deluge, an event of epic scale that becomes a metaphor for the present moment, where environmental and social upheaval converge. Throughout the exhibition—experienced in the round, in close proximity and at monumental scale—the animals function as both protagonists and interlocutors. Rather than framing environmental themes through notions of crisis and urgency alone, the exhibition centers on relationships and intimate encounters—the menagerie assembled in The Ark bears witness to forces that threaten our existence while fostering the instinctive human tendency to care for vulnerable beings and acknowledge their unique contributions to our collective life on this planet.