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)

A paramilitary police officer (right) turns around as hostesses line up for roll call ahead of the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing, China, on Monday, April 25, 2016. Tesla Motors Inc. and BYD Co. are among manufacturers showing 147 new-energy vehicles at this year's show. (Photo by Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

British singer-songwriter Rita Ora early May 2024 makes an eye-catching face as she promotes “The Masked Singer”, where she’s a judge. (Photo by Rita Ora/Instagram)

Secondary school graduates play in a fountain as they celebrate the last day of school, traditionally called the “last bell” in central Kiev, Ukraine on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

In this March 18, 2015 photo, a boy rides a mechanical bull for children at the Texcoco Fair on the outskirts of Mexico City. In Mexico, these types of fairs date back to Spanish colonial times, and in some smaller communities they are organized around the feast days of Roman Catholic saints. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

British glamour model and actress Sabrina (born Norma Ann Sykes, 1936-2016), during a press conference at Park Lane House in London on June 24, 1955. (Photo by ANL/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman wearing a mask walk in a street in a Yonghegong Lama temple compound seen shrouded in smog in Beijing, China, 30 November 2015. Beijing issued an orange alert for heavy smog 30 November, the highest level this year. Authorities in the Chinese capital warned of 'severe pollution' and advised the capital's 20 million inhabitants to stay indoors. (Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA)

A child jumps to touch lanterns hung on a tree ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Beijing on Thursday, January 16, 2020. The world's largest annual migration begins this week in China with millions of Chinese traveling to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year on Jan. 25 this year which marks the Year of the Rat on the Chinese zodiac. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)