Iraj Eskandari was born in Kashmir in 1956. He learned the basics of painting in Mashhad from Mansour Dollou and simultaneously became familiar with carpet drawing. After finishing high school, he was admitted to the School of Decorative Arts and moved to Tehran to study painting. During the 1978 revolution, Eskandari completed his bachelor's degree in painting and then went to France to continue his studies. During a one-year training course, he became acquainted with mural painting styles before returning to Iran. Eskandari completed his master's degree in art research at Tehran University of Art and received a doctorate in art research from the same university in 2005.

Alongside his painting career, Eskandari has always been involved in academia, teaching art. He is a faculty member at Tehran University of Art. Eskandari's works were first exhibited in 1972 at the Mashhad Chamber of Commerce. After the revolution, his works have been frequently presented both inside and outside Iran in individual and group exhibitions.

Initially, Eskandari's works served the revolution, but over time, he distanced himself from social and political themes, moving towards abstraction. The simplification of elements and the dominance of geometric expressions in the representation of elements and spatial composition are the main characteristics of these works. These features are rooted in his long-standing interest in Iranian carpet motifs, paintings, and architecture. Most of these works have lyrical themes. In creating his paintings, Eskandari draws from ancient literature, incorporating romantic poems by poets such as Nizami Ganjavi. Art critic Ruyin Pakbaz describes this period of Eskandari's work as having a symbolist tendency: "He often combines simplified human and bird figures with geometric shapes and creates various textures on the surface of the work." During this period, Eskandari developed an innovative and mixed approach to materials. His paints are often based on binder glue and sit thickly on the canvas. In some of his works, he pursued this path to achieve pure abstraction.