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)

Artist Jeff Koons sculpture Balloon Monkey (Magenta), 2006-13, with an estimate of £6,000,000-10,000,000 on display in St James's Square, London, before being sold by Christie's to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Picture date: Tuesday June 14, 2022. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

A team of female cadets takes part in a tug-of-war competition at Budyonny Military Academy of the Signal Corps in St Petersburg, Russia on March 7, 2021. (Photo by Peter Kovalev/TASS/Profimedia)

The Turkish merchant ship Efe Murat is driven aground in strong winds in Bari, Italy on February 25, 2019. (Photo by De Giglio/Fotogramma/Ropi/ROPI via ZUMA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

American model, media personality and socialite Hailey Bieber in the first decade of October 2022 kicks off fall with a plunging neckline. (Photo by haileybieber/Instagram)

A graffiti by urban artist TVBoy depicts President of the Royal Spanish Soccer Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales kissing Spanish player Jenni Hermoso, in Barcelona, Spain, 01 September 2023. Suspended RFEF President Luis Rubiales announced on 25 August that he would not resign over the kiss on the lips he gave to Spanish player Jenni Hermoso during celebrations of the FIFA Women's World Cup final. (Photo by Quique Garcia/EPA)

South African model Candice Swanepoel walks the runway at the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (Photo by Matt Baron/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Laura Ford’s 1991 sculpture Twiglet has been installed at Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, North Yorkshire, UK in the last decade of April 2024. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)