Miniatures artist Daniel Cortes finds beauty, inspiration in New York City streets
NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn man battling depression and other struggles discovered a unique passion that helped lead him out of the darkness, and he's using the city as artistic inspiration on his road 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're going through anxiety, depression and you're going through so many things that your back is against the wall, you feel 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 like awesome, like, I did this for you," he said.
His art even helped him reconnect with loved ones.
"My mom she sees these beautiful things like, 'Wow, you got some talent. You should throw it on on Facebook,'" Cortes said. "I connected with her, like, wow, this is me going through everything I'm going through now, I'm working on an art and I'm connecting with my mom, something that never had."
Cortes started selling his miniatures online. His first sale was a miniature ice box that went for $30.
"I thought that was like, what!? I got 30 bucks for it? To make a piece in a few hours that, wow, somebody paid me?" Cortes said.
He started raising his prices for more complicated pieces, and today, they sell for hundreds of dollars.
"I made this yesterday. Put it on the website. Sold in 10 minutes, $2,500," Cortes said.
Cortes draws his inspiration from New York City streets, finding the beauty in the ordinary.
"We don't take time see the beauty around us. Like, when someone's depressed, with anxiety and has so much stuff that's going on, that's ugly to them ... But everything portrays beauty and everything, just you got to stop and look, look around you," he said.
While finding success in his art has been "pretty cool," Cortes says, most importantly, he wants to be a voice encouraging others who are struggling to not give up.
"Because I'm proof. I've been there all the darkest times, and I got out of it. And it starts with you. Because you can manifest everything you want. And you know, this isn't gonna happen unless you take action,' he said.
For more on Cortes and his artwork, visit dannycortesnyc.com.
