Born in 1940 in Nizampur, Andhra Pradesh, K Laxma Goud received his Diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Government College of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad, followed by a Post Diploma in Mural Painting and Drawing from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara.

Goud works across various mediums, including etching, gouache, pastel, sculpture and glass painting. His early works explored eroticism within rural contexts and are noted for the originality of his etchings and aquatints. His art reflects memories of his childhood in the village and the vitality of rural and tribal life. He also created small paintings of his village using monochromatic palettes. His work frequently portrays surreal village settings and themes of eroticism. In an interview with Malavika, he spoke about his inspiration: “We come from a culture which spoke openly about the man-woman relationship, about fertility. When it recurs in a contemporary context, why should anyone pull a face?” He further observed, “No one cares for a goat except perhaps for the artist who sees in the creature the dogged determination of a people who have learned to live off their landscape by hunting food for what they can get out of it.” Later, Goud further explored aquatint in his etchings and developed a more pronounced engagement with erotic themes. He also began working with terracotta and reverse glass painting in a decorative style. He served as a teacher and Head of the Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Art, Fine Art & Communication at the University of Hyderabad. In 2016, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. His portraits of men and women represent aspects of the Indian ethos rather than particular individual identities, while his expressive lines, rendered in black and white or colour, remain central to his visual language.

Among his noteworthy exhibitions are Figurative Indian Artists, Warsaw, Budapest, Belgrade and the Goethe-Institut, Munich (1974–75); São Paulo Biennale, Brazil (1977); Contemporary Indian Painting, Festival of India, Royal Academy of Arts, London (1982); India in Print, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Amsterdam (1983); Contemporary Art of India: The Herwitz Collection, USA (1986); Contemporary Indian Art, Festival of China, Geneva, Switzerland (1987); Grey Art Gallery, New York (1986); Worcester Art Museum (1986); Journey's Within Landscape, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1992); National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1993); Y2K International Exhibition of Prints, National Taiwan Arts (2000); Manifestations I, II and III, organised by Delhi Art Gallery at the World Trade Center, Mumbai, and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi (2003–04), followed by Manifestations III at Nehru Centre, Mumbai (2006); and a solo exhibition organised by ICA Gallery, Jaipur, Rajasthan (2008).