PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ISSUE IS AVAILABLE AS PRE-ORDER ONLY!
ANY PRODUCT ORDERED FROM THIS ISSUE WILL NOT BE DISPATCHED UNTIL THE OFFICIAL ISSUE DATE 3RD SEPTEMBER!
An illuminating symbol
How can the topics of homeland and identity be represented in a small format? For this stamp, Andriu Deplazes gave his work “Hilltop fire” a new emphasis.
A lake reflects the light and the sky is bathed in twilight it’s a moment between festivity and silence, between myth and the present. “Hilltop fire is a historical, national symbol of freedom that is romanticized, but also politically charged,” explains Deplazes regarding the stamp design.
The inspiration for the design is a monumental work on canvas, which Deplazes painted for Art Basel Unlimited 2025: a hilltop fire above Lake Lucerne. The painting depicts various figures watching the fire in the twilight, while other shadowy forms escape above the mountain silhouettes.
For the new issue of the stamp set celebrating Swiss Post’s commitment to art, Deplazes created a new image that captures the essence of this theme in the compact nature of the small format.
The image, initially created in oil and ink on paper, then over printed using a monotype technique and finally reproduced photographically, becomes a portable medium for philosophical and social questions.
How the stamp came about
Selected artists from all over the country, whose works are represented in the Swiss Post art collection, were invited to take part in a competition. The idea was to design a stamp that exemplifies Swiss Post’s commitment to art. Artists were expected to align themselves with the Art Department’s collection strategy, which addresses topics and concerns that engage Swiss society at large. “The proposal submitted by Andriu Deplazes meets this requirement particularly well by addressing important themes and conveying them in an accessible way. His works explore people, landscapes and cultural contexts, promoting dialogue between tradition and modernity an approach that mirrors Swiss Post’s role as an intermediary be- tween people and places,” explains Diana Pavlicek, Head of the Art Department at Swiss Post.
