Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

Singer Whitney Houston performs onstage at the 2009 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on November 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

A view of St Thomas Becket church during the morning frost, in Fairfield, Kent, England, Thursday, January 6, 2022, following freezing overnight temperatures. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire via AP Photo)

A majestic elephant visits the watering hole at the Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa under the Milky Way in August 2022. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Animal News Agency)

Andy Saturn dressed in a space outfit walks in through a subway station over memorial day weekend on May 29, 2021 in New York City. On May 19, 2021 all pandemic restrictions, including mask mandates, social distancing guidelines, venue capacities and restaurant curfews were lifted by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Greece's Maria Sakkari reacts during her women's singles quarter-final tennis match against Poland's Iga Swiatekon Day 11 of The Roland Garros 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Ring-tailed lemurs sit on the hood of a truck while snacking inside the Buin Zoo in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. The largest private zoo in Chile, experiencing a serious economic situation due to the closure of its doors as a result of the prolonged quarantine measures, has started a campaign coined, “Sponsor an Animal”, to raise money to maintain the animals. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

The Pumawari Tusuy group performs for the crowd gathered in the park at the first Annual Indigenous Peoples' Day Ceremonial Celebration in Newton, Massachusetts on October 11, 2021. October 11 is a federal holiday to mark Columbus Day, but the day was also officially recognized as Indigenous Peoples' Day following a proclamation by US President Joe Biden. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP Photo)