Seven of Cats (2026) Original Acrylic Painting by Zakhar Shevchuk

Seven of Cats looks increasingly peculiar the longer it is observed. A man relaxes with a cup in a monumental black-and-white armchair. A pink shark appears behind his head. Cats occupy the margins of the image, while a sequence of pale animal forms runs along the lower edge. Enclosing everything is a broad red border that makes the composition resemble an enormous, slightly impossible playing card.

The resemblance becomes particularly apt once the title is known. Six cats can be accounted for without too much difficulty; the seventh, Shevchuk says, is hidden behind the chair. Seven of Cats therefore functions almost like the name of a card from an imaginary suit, turning the act of looking into a small visual game.

Yet most of the scene’s apparent absurdity was not staged. Shevchuk painted it from life. The shark was really there, as were the sitter, the chair and even the mismatched socks. Rather than inventing a surreal environment, the artist exaggerates the latent strangeness of reality through flattened perspective, rough contours, simplified forms and expressive colour.

At 200x150 cm, the work has the physical presence of a contemporary history painting while depicting an intimate and wonderfully eccentric domestic moment. It captures the increasingly recognisable language of Shevchuk’s recent work, where naïve directness, expressionist painting and street-art spontaneity meet without losing humour.

Materials used:

Acrylic

Details:

• Acrylic painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 150 x 200 x 2cm (unframed)
• Signed certificate of authenticity
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits