Afshin Pirhashemi was born in 1974 in Tehran, Iran where he still lives; he attended Azad University in Tehran from 2005-2007. Painting since his childhood, Pirhashemi is a figurative painter who composes works with sparse or empty backgrounds, often painted in monochrome. His work reflects upon life in modern day Iran’s social and political climate.

In terms of subject matter, Pirhashemi primarily depicts women, inspired by his father’s reverence for and Boticelli’s depiction of females.  Pirhashemi executes his paintings in an idealistic style of photo-realistic accuracy, which gives his work a sense of immutability, especially as there is little extraneous detail to divert attention away from the figure. In 2003, Pirhashemi won the Juror’s Choice award at the 6th Biennale in Iran and, in 2004, was presented with the Beijing Art Biennial Award.