Meri Stroe & Mihai Costache Duo explores through sculpture, illustration, photography, and text universal legends and recent myths in search of connection with personal histories.
You can follow Meri and Mihai on Instagram:
- Meri Stroe: https://www.instagram.com/meri_stroe
- Mihai Costache: https://www.instagram.com/bersalier
Q&A with Meri Stroe & Mihai Costache
When did you discover your passion for art and what does art mean to you?
We grew up surrounded by beautiful objects and strange artifacts left behind by various grandparents, aunts, uncles, and our parents. As we grew a little older, we realized that some of these were “art.” Some of the works were made by them, and what remained with us was the belief that creating one form or another of “art” is something familiar, ancestral, and important. Perhaps often, their artistic objects said more than they or we could say to each other.
Art for us is the need for connection, a radio signal transmitted through the air to people we haven’t seen yet, but we hope they are there.
Describe yourself briefly: what do you like, what moves you, what angers you?
We like serendipitous findings—books, objects, and cut plants that have survived. Curiosities to be archived in the everyday.
We are moved by newly emerged leaves, unexpected sounds, and people who enjoy our work and tell us how it has helped them. Sometimes the music from the end credits of certain movies.
We are angered by the lack of empathy and societal inequalities.
Describe your artistic vision: sources of inspiration, methods, and messages you want to convey to the audience.
In our collaboration as a duo, our artistic process starts from the shape of a story. It can be represented by an image, a text, a fragment of overheard conversation, a legend, a recent event, from the past, or an imaginary; there’s no predefined method.
Then it evolves into the shape of a personal story, although we may not initially intend that.
Who has influenced you on your journey so far and how?
The moment of our meeting coincided with the decision to finalize our artistic projects. We influenced each other through ideas, but more importantly, through encouragement to continue on this path. We are inspired by the artists around us who continue to create despite difficult conditions.
Which of your works do you like the most and what does it mean to you?
The cover of the book “Hanging Gardens,” a project about plants in apartment block stairwells, our first collaboration as a duo.
What has been the most joyful moment in your career so far?
The surprise was that the plants in the biophilic installation at the Hanging Gardens exhibition bloomed at the closing event.
What do you expect from the Accelerator Câmpulung program?
To help us better understand the Romanian and international artistic context with the aid of tools and practices that we can apply more frequently in our process of exploration and presentation.
Which other artists do you like and inspire you, and why?
A very difficult question that we don’t want to give just one answer to because we are constantly inspired by everything we see and hear, and that changes all the time.
What plans do you have?
We are working on several projects. One of them reassembles souvenir images and sculpture silhouettes from the Romanian coastline as we saw it in our childhood in the late ’80s.
Another is a graphic novel set in medieval Moldova.
And a study exploring body image in various media (sculpture, drawing, and photography) to deconstruct the standard image of the concept of beauty.
Works of the Artists
in Mapping the City from the Outside Exhibition
