ArtDayMe : Boom Gallery has returned after five years, launching its new season with a striking selection of works by the late Afshin Pirhashemi, a pivotal figure in contemporary Iranian art.

Thirty-one of Pirhashemi’s paintings, created between 2008 and 2011, are currently on view at Boom Gallery—some being exhibited for the very first time. This marks the first solo exhibition of Pirhashemi’s works since his untimely passing at the age of fifty on December 7, 2024.

The exhibition opens with four pieces from the Surah Al-Fatiha series, executed in oil on canvas (100 × 100 cm, 2009). These calligraphic works reflect Pirhashemi’s distinctive synthesis of text and abstraction, where Quranic verses form the background to expressive painterly gestures.

True to Pirhashemi’s known artistic temperament, most of the works are “Untitled.” Pieces from his well-known X, Rome, Wine of Love, and Dream (from the One Thousand and One Nights series) are also on display. Among them, eight triptychs stand out for their visual power and conceptual depth.

Pirhashemi’s female-centered imagery, always layered with psychological and social commentary, invites renewed interpretation today. This collection from 2008–2009 offers valuable insight into the evolution of his vision and painterly language, providing rich material for study and reflection by artists and scholars alike.

_SamiAzar: Afshin was an inspiring model for young artists

Dr. Alireza Sami Azar, a leading art historian and figure in Iranian contemporary art, contributed an essay to the exhibition catalogue. He writes:

[[ Afshin Pirhashemi is one of the most influential contemporary Iranian artists. Over the two decades of artistic activity, he earned widespread recognition through his exhibitions, awards, auction records, and, above all, his distinct artistic persona. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s with his black-and-white portraits of young female figures that appeared silent yet melancholic and confrontational. In terms of representations of women, these paintings differed from other Iranian painters’ works and are now considered as pioneering examples of a contemporary neo-expressionist movement. The female figures often emerge against empty backgrounds, critical in tone and indifferent to the modernist conventions of color, composition, and form. Alongside the works of some of his contemporaries, Pirhashemi’s paintings signaled the emergence of a new trend in Iranian conceptual painting. In his work, women do not appear in clearly defined temporal or spatial contexts. They often gaze directly at the viewer with a questioning look, challenging prevailing stereotypes and judgments. These portraits marked the first broad representation of the female figure in Iranian painting that lacked poetic or romantic undertones. In some cases, they even offered a cynical and sarcastic critique of contemporary ideals of femininity.

The idea of painting female figures has been persistently pursued across various periods and styles by great Western artists such as Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, and Willem de Kooning. However, the most prominent artist to focus almost exclusively on women’s portraits throughout a significant part of his artistic career was Amedeo Modigliani. Using soft, elongated lines, he created countless images of women imbued with beauty and deep emotion. In all these cases, the female models were emotionally present in the artist’s personal life. Similarly, the idea of women in Pirhashemi’s paintings likely stems from his lived experiences, particularly in relation to the opposite sex. Yet from another perspective, this concept may be interpreted as the artist’s broader vision of life’s temptations, desires and doubts through the lens of womanhood—a concentration of dreams, nightmares, triumphs, and failures embodied in the female form. His women are not allusions to Freudian sexual instincts, but rather carry a symbolic quality aligned with a Jungian view. These fairy-faced women are not representations of the mother or lover, nor icons of affection or sexual allure. Instead, they reflect the anima—the feminine aspect of a man’s unconscious. In other words, they should be seen as mirrors in which the male self is reflected and hence, a deeper understanding of himself can be explored. In this way, Pirhashemi’s portrayal of the female figure becomes a reconstruction of hidden aspects of his own being; things that allude to pleasure and disgust, as well as his deepest anxieties and fears ...

... Afshin Pirhashemi, who had managed an art gallery in Tehran for a while, clearly considered his audience’s tastes and the art market as a whole in both his early and later choices—from painting small, sparse, black portraits of women for Tehran’s art scene, to creating large, colorful, and crowded canvases to be exhibited in Dubai and London. In this regard, too, he has served as a source of inspiration for young Iranian artists.]]

_A Film on the Works of Afshin Pirhashemi by Nazgol Hashemnia

A documentary titled “A Look at the Works of Afshin Pirhashemi”, directed by Nazgol Hashemnia, is also being screened alongside the exhibition. Produced by Azadeh Saljouqi in 2010, the film features commentary from Fatima Yathribi, Behzad Hatam, Alireza Sami Azar, Behnam Kamrani, Beita Vakili, and Kamran Kamrani, with Ali Soleimanian (cinematography), Amin Sehat-Chi (sound), Ehsan Jafari (editing), and Rezvan Bahri (photography).

The exhibition runs through December 18, 2025, at Boom Gallery, located on Valiasr Avenue, above the Niayesh intersection, Najaf Daryabandari Street (West Armaghan), No. 11, Tehran.

About Boom Gallery

Founded with the mission of showcasing pioneering art and introducing leading Iranian artists to discerning audiences, Boom Gallery provides a distinguished platform for artistic creativity. This initiative stands as a tribute to art, a commitment to cultural enrichment, and an acknowledgment of the achievements of Iranian artists who have influenced the global art scene.

Guided by this cultural vision, Boom Gallery operates beyond commercial intent, focusing instead on the meaningful presentation of outstanding works—from modern masters to avant-garde contemporary figures. The gallery embraces diverse subjects and media, striving to exhibit the finest examples of Iranian art with curatorial excellence and museum-quality standards.

Boom Gallery welcomes collaboration and exchange, aiming to expand its activities and engage with international institutions in the shared mission of promoting fine art and distinguished artists.