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 woman stands next to a giant jandal on Tamarama Beach as giant sculptures are installed ahead of the “Sculpture by the Sea” exhibition in Sydney on October 19, 2016. Celebrating it's 20th anniversary, Sculpture by the Sea is the world's largest annual, free-to-the-public, outdoor sculpture exhibition. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

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)

A performer entertains the crowd during a rally in support of the leader of the Cameroonian opposition party Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) in Yaounde, on September 30, 2018, prior to the upcoming October 7, presidential elections. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)

San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) dodges a pitch during the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park in San Diego, California on April 16, 2025. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Reuters)

Hong Kong art gallery director Sarah Greene said that Wolf, known for his work depicting mega-cities, has died Tuesday, April 24, 2019 night at his home. She said he was 64. Wolf won first prize in the World Press Photo competition in 2005 and 2010. Here: Architecture of Density #119, 2009. (Photo by Michael Wolf, courtesy of Flowers Gallery)

Myanmar national award second-place winner: Kyaw Win Hlaing. “Mount Bromo is an active volcano in East Java, Indonesia. The name Bromo derives from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god”. (Photo by Kyaw Win Hlaing/Sony World Photography Awards 2018)

American model Emily Ratajkowski walks on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 26, 2024 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Claudia Greco/Reuters)