Why the Rotary Art Show hangs on this man

The Rotary Bendigo Easter Art Show has been running for more than half-a-century and for every one of those fifty-plus years the name Geoff Paynter has been associated in some way.

From Queen Elizabeth Gardens, to the YMCA, to Bendigo Senior Secondary College, and now at its current home at Town Hall, Paynter’s works have been hanging from the display walls.

But in the last few years he’s also taken on an extra duty and joined the curating team where he’s charged with hanging all the artworks, which is a pretty daunting exercise he said.

“You are hit with 900 pictures in two days,” he said. “You don’t know what size, colour or shape they are going to be, and you have got to hang and present them.

“Hopefully you have a good crew because if you don’t have the other eight, nine or 10 people who are helping, you have Buckley’s of hanging all the pictures.”

Paynter said getting all the works up on the wall may sound simple, but there is more to it than meets the eye.

“You start with a blank wall or panel, and you take one big image, then some medium and small and it’s pretty logical in that regard.

“But you’ve got to fit the space, make it look comfortable and not too crowded.

“The principle of it is, you don’t hang two large pictures together, you don’t hang two that are similar together, so you don’t put two abstracts or realistic pictures together.”

Among the art pieces Paynter will be hanging are some of his own and it won’t be his first time in the show, nor will it be his last he said.

“If this is their 54th show this is my 54th time entering,” he said.

“I will do it till I drop, I won’t be stopping. I’m not a bowler and I no longer play golf, so this is what I do, just as I have always done.”