Born in 1976 in Lekhnath in the western municipality of Nepal, NB Gurung has become globally known as a passionate leading watercolour artist. His artistic passion began as a young child when he started copying images from school text books. Encouraged by classmates and his teachers, he began to dream of being an artist some day, however after completing his School Leaving Certificate (SLC), his desire to become formally trained in art had to wait another five years
In 1998 NB joined an art training institute, Art Line, run by senior artist Alok Gurung and where he spent almost a year. During his training period he was so drawn to the medium of watercolour that his classmates and teachers were absolutely astonished observing his talents. Although given the opportunity to work in other media it was watercolour which he loved. After completing his training he started selling some of his works to a local gallery.
It was in 2001 that NB’s artistic journey took a U-turn when a national on-the-spot art competition was held in Kathmandu. He decided to take part in the competition where he gained second place from amongst four hundred competitors – along with formally educated students from the local Fine Arts College. His heart was in producing his own paintings and for the past few years he has been a full time watercolour artist residing in Kathmandu.
In his 20 years or so as an artist, NB has earned unbelievable recognition for executing distinct watercolours. He has staged three solo watercolour exhibitions, taken part in numerous group art exhibitions and participated in several art workshops. He has twice been selected as a member of the judging panel for the International Watercolor Society’s Art Contest in 2012 and 2014 and been awarded some major prestigious prizes. His art has been hugely collected in private homes and abroad. He has travelled to Thailand, China, Albania, Istanbul, India and Europe winning a number of awards.