Noni Borpujari (right) speaks after inauguration of his online art gallery at his residence on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Oct. 19: Celebrated artist Noni Borpujari has got a new address now.

Art connoisseurs can enjoy and buy the internationally acclaimed artist’s popular art works at his online gallery, “Noni’s gallery” at www.assam24X7.com, a website devoted to Borpujari and his works.

The online gallery, along with his personal studio-cum-gallery christened Artists’ Studio Gallery, was inaugurated today at a simple function organised at his residence in the city.

The website has been designed by young software professional Ankur Choudhury.

The function was attended by his family members and close friends, including Sahitya Akademi awardee poet Hiren Bhattacharyya and author Atulananda Goswami.

“The idea behind creating the online gallery is to reach out to a wider section of art lovers. Moreover, the personal studio-cum-gallery is the place where I can work freely and exhibit my works,” said Borpujari.

“I have also kept space in the personal gallery for my artist friends, who come from outside the city, to exhibit their works free of cost during their stay,” he added.

The online gallery at present has 25 of Borpujari’s works. “Soon the online gallery will have 100 pieces of my paintings,” he said.

Borpujari has displayed 14 of his latest artworks in his studio-cum-gallery. He will update the works exhibited in the gallery every three months.

“I am glad to learn that Borpujarida has inaugurated both his online gallery and his personal studio-cum gallery today. Now art lovers can have easy access to his popular works,” said artist Lutfa Akhtar. “Borpujarida is the only living artist of the state who has his own online gallery. Moreover, with lack of space to exhibit artworks, his personal gallery will serve as a space for exhibiting good and quality art works. In fact, we need more such online and personal galleries to cater to the interest of larger groups of art lovers.”

Born in 1950 in Shillong, Borpujari received the Lalit Kala Akademi Research Scholarship in 1983. He was also among the few select artists to attend the prestigious International Artist in Residence in the print-making workshop at University of South California in 1983. In the same year, he worked in different parts of the US, where he was widely appreciated for his contemporary art works.

In 1991, he was awarded a scholarship from Banff Centre, School of Fine Arts, Canada.

Some of the international exhibitions, where his works were showcased, are in the Mini Print International Exhibition in 1981 at Cadaquef (Spain), the International Exhibition Against War in 1985 at Majdanek (Poland), International Exhibition of Print in 1994 at Mussori (US) and International Exhibition, Tarleton State University, Texas (US) in 1994.

Unesco had also sponsored exhibition of Borpujari’s works in Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and different parts of the US.