About Leila Eskandari

I am Leila Eskandari, an Iranian painter.

Narrative, poetry, form, drawing, and above all, color play a distinctive role in my paintings. The practice of painting itself holds a central place in my work. By bringing together vivid colors and diverse forms, I seek to create a sense of harmony and coherence within each painting.

For me, painting is like diving into an ocean. The deeper I go, the more I discover, encountering new possibilities and increasingly profound experiences. It is an ongoing journey of exploration and discovery, in which each painting can open a window onto an unknown world.

My work draws inspiration from myths, poetry, and romantic tales, particularly classical Persian literature and poets such as Ferdowsi and Nezami. What fascinates me about these narratives is the way they explore love, imagination, and the relationship between human beings and the world around them. At the same time, the connections these stories have with my own life and with the characters I encounter in the contemporary world encourage me to revisit and reinterpret them.

In my paintings, I draw inspiration from the forms, colors, and spatial compositions of Iranian painting, as well as from the history of Western art. I bring these influences together with figures and objects that possess a stronger sense of volume and three-dimensionality, seeking to establish a new connection between the visual language of classical Iranian art and my own contemporary approach.

In my work, I reinterpret narratives and images, placing them within a new visual context. Through this process, I translate them into my own visual language—a language in which color, form, and narrative come together to create an independent world. This world emerges from tradition and literature, yet takes on a new form through my lived experience and contemporary imagination.