MEGURU: Kanoko Takaya and Her Sequence of Decisions

Semarang Gallery Jakarta has opened a solo exhibition by Kyoto-based artist Kanoko Takaya, titled MEGURU. The exhibition runs from July 25 to September 27, 2026, presenting Kanoko's newest works, born out of a long process of exploring form, material, color, and composition. The exhibition is curated by Nimas Selu Yasmine.

The title Meguru comes from the Japanese word 巡る, meaning something that keeps turning and repeating. For Kanoko, meguru describes both how she understands life and how she works, a cycle in which every experience opens a new connection, and that connection becomes the starting point for the next experience.

Kanoko's process begins with a sketch. From there, a work develops through a series of decisions about material, color, and composition made along the way. What stands out in this approach is that no single decision stands alone. Each choice opens up a new consideration, which then shapes the next choice, until every element in the work finds its place in relation to the others.

The curatorial text frames the exhibition around one question: "Can every decision we make truly stand on its own?" That question sits close to how Kanoko actually works. She does not begin with a finished plan already set in her head. She observes, lets form develop on its own terms, and follows the direction that emerges from the process itself.

Takaya describes a sensation that surfaces while shaping a work, as if the body were unconsciously searching for a "comfortable place." When lying next to someone, leaning back into a sofa, or crossing one's fingers, the body naturally shifts, presses, and adjusts until it settles into a position that feels right. For Takaya, these small, everyday bodily movements resurface in the forms of her work once she looks at them again after the making is done.

Soft, continuous curved lines, contours that give rise to bumps and hollows, and forms that stack or lean against one another, all carry traces of the sensations that appear when the body touches, moves, and adjusts itself.

Takaya searches for form through a dialogue with material, through physical actions such as touching, pressing, scraping, wrapping, stitching, stacking, and smoothing. The resistance and softness of a material, its weight, its texture, and the response it gives at each moment, all feed into the next movement and the next decision.

This approach comes through most clearly in her resin works. Takaya knowingly hands part of the creative process over to chance and possibility, without fully controlling the shifts and irregularities that emerge within the layers of resin. By letting what happens between material and process remain visible in the work, the time spent making it becomes layered together with the actions and changes that took place.

The works in MEGURU carry forms that recall the human body, flowers, and other organic elements. Kanoko's interest in the closeness between floral structure and the human body is stated directly in the curatorial text. A flower grows from a single center, with stem, petals, and pistil emerging as parts of one whole. The human body takes shape through the relationship between head, torso, arms, and legs, each contributing to its existence. From this simple observation, Kanoko sees flowers and bodies as two forms of life that grow and build relationships with the world around them in similar ways.

The materials Kanoko uses in this exhibition also reflect her attentiveness to the character of each substance. Stitched canvas, stone powder, coconut fiber, and resin serve as her main materials, each with its own properties and texture, yet allowed to develop together into a composition that feels whole.

Looking at Kanoko's work does not settle into a single reading. A viewer's attention can move from one element to another, then return with a different way of seeing. Each shift in attention opens a new relationship that adds to one's understanding of the work, in step with the idea of meguru as something that keeps turning and never truly finishes.

Kanoko began pursuing a serious search for identity through her work after moving to Bali in 2016. From there, she started expanding the range of materials in her practice, while working to move past the boundary between painting and sculpture through unconventional experiments and techniques. Her work is known for its curves and textures that evoke associations with the human body, giving it a sense of familiarity and intimacy for anyone who encounters it.