Afshin Pirhashemi is one of the contemporary Iranian artists known for his photorealistic designs. Iranian and Middle Eastern woman is one of the central themes of this artist's artworks.

Pirhashemi started learning painting with Babak Atminani. He later entered the Islamic Azad University and continued his studies in painting but left the university part-time. Pirhashemi took a three-month training course at the Academy of Arts in Rome after receiving a study opportunity from the Italian government. His first solo work was held in 1990 at Bamdad Gallery in Tehran. But in continuation of his career path, he is more focused on the countries of the Persian Gulf, predominantly Dubai. Since 2012, he has been cooperating with Al-Ayyam Gallery regularly and rarely held exhibitions in Iran. Pirhashemi is a very successful artist commercially, and his name has always been on prestigious lists such as Artpris and FIAK, among the best-selling artists in the world. He won the Sixth Iranian Painting Biennial Award in 2003 and was also selected for the Beijing Biennial in 2005.

He often paints with limited black and white color options. In some periods, red has been added to his palette. The narrative nature of Pir Hashemi's paintings is closely related to cinema. This closeness is emphasized in several paintings by drawing characters such as Don Corleone from Coppola's godfather film. Pakbaz writes about the artworks of this artist: "Pirhashemi in his photorealistic paintings deals with the theme of" woman "with a mystical attitude. "In her recent paintings, which are often simple, women's bodies are depicted on a blank white background to evoke a sense of eternity and grandeur." "The mother woman is a symbol of love and affection, a woman is a symbol of the earth and fertility, but she is still struggling with oppression and inequality around the world. My best motivation is to focus on "This is a special world, and I portray all these narratives as a man."

Afshin Pirhashemi's first appearance in the auctions dates back to October 2007 at the Artcurial Auction House. By October 2021, his artworks had appeared in domestic and foreign auctions 64 times, and 68% of his artworks had been sold at international auctions. His most expensive work until 2021 was hammered at the Christie's Auction House for $ 554,500 in May 2010.