Miniature artist Daniel Cortes finds beauty and inspiration in the streets of New York

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn man battling depression and other struggles discovered a unique passion that helped bring him out of obscurity, and he uses the city as artistic inspiration on his path to success.

Daniel Cortes is a miniature artist, creating miniatures and dioramas of everything from mailboxes and dumpsters to sticker-covered storefronts and basketball hoops.

“When you have anxiety, depression and you’re going through so much that your back is against the wall, it feels like the world is against you,” Cortes said.

But when he sat down to work on a piece, he says he didn’t feel the darkness he was going through.

“So I feel like God reset the world in a great way, like I did this for you,” he said.

His art even helped him reconnect with his loved ones.

“My mom sees these beautiful things like, ‘Wow, you’re talented. You should post it on Facebook,'” Cortes said. “I connected with her, like, wow, this is me going through everything I’m going through now, working on art and connecting with my mom, something that I never had.”

Cortes began selling his miniatures online. His first sale was a miniature cooler for $30.

“I thought it was like what!? I got $30 for this? Doing a piece in a few hours that, wow, someone paid me?” Cortes said.

He began raising his prices for more complex pieces, and today they sell for hundreds of dollars.

“I made it yesterday. Put it on the website. Sold in 10 minutes, $2,500,” Cortes said.

Cortes draws inspiration from the streets of New York, finding beauty in the ordinary.

“We don’t take the time to see the beauty around us. For example, when someone is depressed, anxious and there is so much going on, it’s ugly for them… But everything represents beauty and everything, you just have to stop and look, look around you,” he said.

Although experiencing success in his art has been “pretty cool,” Cortes says that, more importantly, he wants to be a voice that encourages those who are struggling to not give up.

“Because I’m proof. I’ve been through all the darkest moments and come out of them. And it starts with you. Because you can manifest anything you want. And you know, that doesn’t “It won’t happen unless you take action,” he said.

To learn more about Cortes and his works, visit dannycortesnyc.com.