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)

Participants struggle to reach the prizes during a greased-pole climbing competition held as a part of the independence day celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, August 17, 2014. Indonesia is celebrating its 69th independence from the Dutch colonial rule. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

Marionettes backstage before a performance at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles, California October 17, 2014. The playhouse started in 1960, has 2,000 marionettes and is the oldest continually running marionette theater in the U.S. It was recently bought by a developer who wants to turn the historic landmark into a 104-unit apartment complex. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

“Untitled”. Hong Kong, Wan Chai area, on March 7, 2013. (Photo by Jerry Lee)

The rarely seen blue sharks photographed by Saeed Rashid in British waters. Elusive blue sharks have recently been spotted off the south coast of England, having moved to the UKs warmer waters to hunt. The carnivorous sharks have been lurking off the coast of the popular British holiday destination, Penzance, in Cornwall. (Photo by Saeed Rashid/Caters News)

Students are seen on a pickup truck at the agricultural road which leads to the capital city of Cairo, Egypt, October 13, 2016. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

Hundreds of amazonian models strutted the streets of New York in order to be given a chance to make it big in the lingerie brand as they returned for the first set of call backs. Here: Model Diane Mello attends the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show castings on October 21, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Stewart/Getty Images)

In this picture taken on Saturday, January 31, 2015, Zohreh Etezadossaltaneh, center, talks on her mobile phone, held with her foot, during a meeting at her friend's home in Tehran, Iran. Now 52 years old, the retired Iranian teacher who was born without arms has dedicated herself to helping others with similar disabilities live full and satisfying lives. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)