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The art of moving on: After 44 years, Roy Johnson is closing the doors of Sumner & Dene
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His 8-year-old pooch Mazie serves as the welcoming committee when the doorbell rings.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e into Yelp, they don鈥檛 talk about Roy, they talk about her,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 got a real following.鈥�
The gallery owner is closing the Central Avenue space after spending 44 years in the business of selling art. His clientele has included such heavy hitters as Angus Macpherson, Phil Hulebak and Bill Tondreau in an area populated by street people and lawyers. The gallery is a candy store filled with pottery, paintings, clocks, ornaments, dolls and mobiles, among other arts and crafts.
Along the way, he鈥檚 owned galleries in San Diego, Taos, Santa Fe and, finally, Albuquerque.
Johnson is retiring on Oct. 31.
鈥淎fter 44 years fighting the word discount, there will be no sale,鈥� he told a customer buying jewelry.
Johnson began selling art when he took over his father鈥檚 Taos gallery in 1979, expanding it to Santa Fe in 1984, 鈥渘ot knowing poop about what I was doing.鈥�
His great-great-grandfather was one of the first cattle ranchers in the state of Oklahoma, as well as the Texas panhandle. The slight lilt in his voice reveals his Lone Star heritage.
Johnson鈥檚 father was an Oklahoma rancher until he developed an allergy to alfalfa and moved to Texas, where the family had leased land to Phillips Petroleum.
He was also a sculptor.
鈥淚t all started because of him,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚 started painting at the age of 6 because I didn鈥檛 want to be the model anymore.鈥�
He originally thought he鈥檇 start an advertising firm. His portfolio featured a model posing in a bathtub filled with Jell-O. But then the Taos gallery manager left.
鈥淚 said, 鈥業鈥檒l run the gallery until we find somebody,鈥� and now three or four cities later, here I am trying to get out of the fine art business.
鈥淭he secret to that is surrounding myself with really great artists. I can recognize great art.鈥�
First, he has to like the artist.
鈥淭he first couple years I put up with some prima donnas,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭here is only one prima donna in here, and that鈥檚 me.鈥�
Customers will find no anguished introspection or deep despair on his walls. His aesthetic leans toward the cheerful and the beautiful.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 sell paintings where you go, 鈥極h, what鈥檚 that hidden meaning?鈥� 鈥� he added.
When Johnson began mixing fine art with crafts, the purists snubbed him.
鈥淚 was completely ostracized,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭he two were segregated. The jewelry and the pottery on the pedestals were what kept the doors open.鈥�
He moved to Albuquerque following an epiphany while he was stuck in a California traffic jam working a crossword puzzle.
鈥淭hen the universe opened,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 came here and in 20 minutes, I found this building.鈥�
The 3,500-square-foot building at 517 Central Ave. NW includes a 鈥渟ecret鈥� upstairs gallery with a separate room devoted to the work of Macpherson. Attorneys and business people sometimes ask to walk its hardwood floor length in order to calm down surrounded by soothing paintings.
鈥淪omeone said, 鈥榊ou should charge people for going upstairs. It鈥檚 like therapy,鈥� 鈥� Johnson said.
鈥淲hen you take people into that room, it鈥檚 like going into an artist鈥檚 studio.鈥�
Macpherson has known Johnson since they both worked as camp counselors in northern New Mexico in 1974.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been the best gallery representative I鈥檝e ever had,鈥� Macpherson said, adding he also shows his work in Santa Fe and in Houston.
鈥淗e鈥檚 very good at art sales. He knows how to do it well. Roy is extremely consistent. To be in the business for 40-some years is very rare. It鈥檚 a tough game.鈥�
A couple who lived near Durango bought two pieces by Macpherson and told Johnson they wanted to meet the artist. Macpherson drove north to meet them. Johnson suggested taking two additional paintings.
鈥淪o we sold four paintings,鈥� Macpherson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so happy for him getting to retire.鈥�
The 鈥淪umner鈥� in the gallery鈥檚 name refers to Johnson鈥檚 middle name. 鈥淒ene鈥� was the middle name of his late partner, Susan.
He benefitted from the New Mexico film industry when set designers from both 鈥淏reaking Bad鈥� and 鈥淏etter Call Saul鈥� used his gallery paintings in both series.
鈥淚f Walter White would have sold his art collection, he would not have to have been a drug dealer,鈥� he said, adding the collection was worth from $20,000 to $30,000.
It was during the pandemic shutdown that Johnson realized there could be life after selling art. He cooked, painted and gardened. When he reopened, it was to buyers finally springing for that expensive painting they had been staring at for years. The same sales spurt happened the day after 9/11, he said.
鈥淭hey were spending their vacation money,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 heard about (cancelled) trips to Paris, to London, to Chicago. It was locals. Probably 50% of them were people I鈥檇 never seen before.鈥�
Similarly, he sold 14 paintings the day after Sept. 11.
鈥淚t made everybody know that life was precious and short. It just blew me away,鈥� he said.
He swears the artists made the business side easy. He says he鈥檚 never been afraid of the area鈥檚 sometimes questionable residents.
Asked what he will miss, he replies, 鈥淭he artists,鈥� then tears up.
