A Cheerful Still Life is exactly that. A long-haired brown cat has climbed right up the back of an old striped armchair, red and faded grey, and stands there stretched out and alert. The joke is on the floor below: a little crowd of grey mice going about their business, plus one bold one sitting on the armrest almost within reach. Igor Shulman keeps the setting simple, just a soft pink wall and a wooden parquet floor, so nothing pulls attention from the standoff. The chair has carved legs and that slightly worn, lived-in look of real furniture. It is a small oil painting with a lot of humour in it, the kind of scene that makes you smile before you have worked out why.