HOLDING THe CORe | 2024
Among the early exhibitions shaping the curatorial direction of TOVA GALLERY, Holding the Core brought together TOVA, Anatoly Shumkin and Alan McFertridge in a focused dialogue on concentration, inner pressure and formal precision. The exhibition centred on works whose force remained gathered within, unfolding through surface, structure and duration, and introducing a mode of viewing grounded in attention, density and the gradual disclosure of what each work carried at its centre. The exhibition is conceptually aligned with Hitting the Right Notes? Earnings Call Vocal Cues and Investment Decision Making (2023), developed with James Bowden and Roland Gemayel, and Market efficiency and market depth (2022), developed with Simon Hayley and Richard Payne, where meaning and strength emerge through underlying signals and structural depth extending beyond immediate surface perception.
EXHIBition concept
There are works whose force remains gathered close to the centre. They open through surface, line, tone and structure, yet their full intensity continues to unfold through duration, through return and through the gradual recognition of what each work carries within itself. Holding the Core is built around this condition. Bringing together three artistic practices, the exhibition focuses on works in which form becomes a site of concentration, a place where energy, pressure and inner coherence remain condensed and active.
At the centre of the exhibition lies a simple question: how does a work hold its core while continuing to open outward? This is not a question of scale or immediate impact, but of internal organisation. Some works gather force through precision, others through density, layered structure or measured restraint. What matters here is the capacity of a form to hold its charge and to keep unfolding within perception.
The practices of TOVA, Alan McFertridge and Anatoly Shumkin come together through this shared condition of concentration. In TOVA’s works, structure often operates through calibration. Elements are placed with precision, intervals carry weight, and the relation between parts produces a field of contained intensity. Alan McFertridge brings a different articulation of the core, shaping images in which compositional pressure and formal compression generate a strong inward pull. Anatoly Shumkin extends this dialogue through density, rhythm and spatial organisation, developing works in which force gathers through layered construction and a sustained sense of inner movement.
What connects these three practices is not sameness of surface, but a shared ability to hold intensity within form. One work may appear measured and quiet while carrying a strong internal charge. Another may present clarity at first encounter, then deepen through duration and return. A structure may seem direct, yet continue to reveal additional weight, pressure and organisation as attention stays with it. In each case, the work keeps something essential gathered within itself.
The exhibition therefore approaches the core as a condition of holding. It appears in the way a work sustains its own internal logic, in the way structure carries force without dispersing it, and in the way perception gradually moves toward what remains concentrated at the centre. Form becomes a vessel for pressure, sensitivity and coherence. What is held inside the work remains active, shaping the experience of looking from within.
For TOVA GALLERY, Holding the Core articulates an early curatorial position that continues to shape the programme. The exhibition brings together practices in which surface and depth operate in close relation, where formal precision and inner density strengthen one another, and where the value of the work emerges through sustained attention. Structure and sensitivity move together here, giving concentration a clear visual form.
This also shapes the position of the viewer. Looking becomes a process of moving inward. One first encounters surface, contour, tone and composition. Then attention begins to register weight, interval, rhythm and pressure. The work gradually discloses the logic through which it holds itself. What remains gathered at the centre begins to guide perception, and from within that concentration the exhibition opens a slower, more exacting mode of relation.
