The Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava is a prestigious international competition and exhibition of original illustrations from children’s books and was founded in 1967. At first, the BIB was held in the House of Art but, in 2017, this changed when the exhibition moved to the Slovak National Museum. In 2019, the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava will be held at Bratislava Castle, an appropriate location for a competition with such a significant international reach.
Commemorative postage stamps have been an important part of the BIB since its foundation. This year, the author of the postage stamp is Vladimír Rostoka (born 18th May 1948). This is not the first time he has been active with relation to the BIB; for several years, he also created the graphic design of this internationally renowned competition.
Vladislav Rostoka graduated from the Secondary School of Art Industry in Bratislava (prof. Štefan Schwartz and Rudolf Fila) and continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava in the Department of Monumental Painting (prof. Dezider Milly and Orest Dubay). As a freelance artist since 1973, he has organized several solo exhibitions entitled “Typo:grafi(k)a” and has participated in more than 600 local and international exhibitions focused on poster design, book design, postage stamp design or logotypes. His graphic designs have been awarded with numerous local and international prizes. Nowadays, he is one of the greatest postage stamp designers, his signature approach combines typography and graphic design into a single entity and this is clearly visible in his new illustration depicted on postage stamp dedicated to the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava 2019.

Viera Anoškinová