LAHORE: In the era of heightened commercialisation in every field of life, including art, the Punjab Art Gallery at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) offers artists of the city to hold their exhibitions free of cost.

Lahore, the hub of cultural activities, has many commercial art galleries but they charge the artists some 30 percent of their earning for showcasing their works.

Only Alhamra Art Gallery offers its venue without charging percentage but it does have a condition that every artist would have to deposit a painting with the gallery from his/her collection.

The Punjab Art Gallery, however, has come up with a generous offer for the Fine Arts fraternity under which the place is free for exhibitions for art institutions, organisations and artists.

The officials at Pilac told Dawn that forthe promotion of arts, crafts and culture of the Punjab, the institute announced the reservation of the Punjab Art Gallery free of charge if the artists or organisations held their exhibitions at the gallery as joint ventures with Pilac.

The venue of the Punjab Art Gallery is suitable for multi-dimensional exhibitions as the area, adjacent to the Gadhafi Stadium, has emerged as a cultural and sports hub having many cultural and sports landmarks. The gallery comprises a big hall adorned with red brick background which can cater 40 to 50 paintings.

The Punjab Art Gallery also has a permanent display of paintings at the gallery which includes portraits of great Sufi poets such as Baba Farid, Shah Hussain, Sachal Sarmast, Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah, Khawaja Ghulam Farid and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh. A portrait of Baba Guru Nanal< along with a view of Golden Temple at Amritsar is also on display