About TOVA
TOVA (Dr Tatiana Franus) uniquely blends profound academic expertise in finance with vibrant creative practice spanning visual arts, music, and poetry. Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, educated in the UK, she brings over 15 years of trading and investment experience, a PhD in Finance from London University Bayes Business School, and an MSc from the London School of Economics.
Her artistic practice encompasses abstract oil, acrylic, ink, and mixed media paintings, alongside bilingual poetry and singer-songwriter compositions in English and Russian. TOVA's work addresses the universal struggle of souls born without boundaries who must navigate increasingly structured worlds. Her artistic evolution challenges the notion that one must sacrifice inner freedom for social acceptance, instead proposing a harmonious integration of both realms.
Mission
Tova Gallery believes that true happiness emerges from balancing inner creative freedom with external social structures. We demonstrate that regardless of background or language, "the capacity for transformative creativity lives within every human being". Our commitment extends beyond traditional exhibitions - we are educators and catalysts for human potential, using art's universal language to remind the world that our most precious resource remains our inherent creative freedom.
Vision
TOVA's multidisciplinary practice demonstrates how the soul seeks to peacefully find freedom within society's intricate web. Her abstract forms reveal the raw emotions that exist beyond social conditioning - fear, love, anger, passion - expressed through abstract flowers inside strong lines and geometric patterns that simultaneously represent both liberation and the social networks that contain us: rules, laws, boundaries, national borders, family expectations, and the societal demand to choose a single path, profession, or identity for life.
Poetry by TOVA
I don't know who you are, my soul,
Where lie the borders of the inner world,
What can my hand touch, reach, or feel -
So shaped by the hard, steady skill.
I don't know where you are, my soul -
In my body, my thoughts,
in the air, in words,
the streets, the dust, or the milestones.
I run through lives, through rivers of shifting time,
Looking for the place where together we felt at home.
Where you
showed me how to love the falling snow,
Said the winter's not really cold,
Where my smile learned to glow,
Breathing in, I knew - I was not alone.
I don’t know where you are, my soul,
I run through summer, through spring,
through endless lives,
I wake up in darkness, all around me,
And you say:
‘I’m in your eyes, reflecting the world
you see.’