Born in New Delhi in 1968, Chandrika Marla studied Fashion Design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology before immigrating to the United States. After a successful career in fashion, she committed to painting full time, developing a practice rooted in abstraction to examine emotional and psychological space.

She is currently a resident artist at Cubberley Studios in Palo Alto, California. Her work has been exhibited at The de Young Museum (California), Queens Museum of Art (New York), Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (Virginia), The Stanford Faculty Club and the Rockford Art Museum (Illinois). At a performance in Chicago in 2011, her paintings were interpreted by Rama Vaidyanathan – a leading exponent of Bharatanatyam dance.