Ex-Drug Dealer Started Miniature Art Hobby During Pandemic, His Work Now Fetches Thousands at Auction

A Brooklyn man who reportedly turned his life around after finding a hobby during the COVID pandemic now has pieces going for thousands of dollars at auctions just a few years after taking up miniature artwork.

Danny Cortes was at “rock bottom” when the pandemic first hit, according to the New York Times. He was jobless, going through a divorce, and serving a four-year probation sentence for dealing drugs. He told the publication that he found himself browsing Instagram often during his isolation.

On the social media platform, he started to notice projects from other people. He saw hyper-realistic models of movie sets, railroads, and even a World War II diorama. Inspired, Cortes began his new hobby by tinkering with materials.

“I loved that when I worked on a piece, I didn’t think about my problems — my divorce, the pandemic,” Cortes told the Times. “It was an escape — like I’m meditating, literally floating. I didn’t have a problem in the world. I wanted that high again, I kept chasing that.”

His first project was a miniature figure of a sight familiar to many New Yorkers, a bodega icebox. Cortes covered the three-inch tall figurine with stickers and graffiti. 

It became his signature piece of work and less than three years later in 2022, it sold for $1,890 at Sotheby’s. Other pieces of Cortes’s artwork can be found on the auction site, with some going for $3,000-$5,000 at the moment.

“Now I wake up,” Cortes reportedly reflected recently, “and I’m like, wow, I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this.”

His hobby, which started as a way to keep his mind off his troubles, transformed into a side hustle and then transformed again after he began posting his creations on Instagram. Cortes’ daughter set up a TikTok account for him. Family and friends wanted to own art from him and Cortes says he was surprised to hear that they were willing to pay $20 or $30 for a model.

In 2021, Cortes reportedly got permission from his probation officer to leave his job as a custodian to make his art full-time. Cortes later was commissioned to make a life-size installation of “Disco Fever” at New York City’s hip-hop mecca, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. That piece is now on tour and will be eventually donated to the Universal Hip Hop Museum set to be built in the Bronx.

Cortes is using his success story to inspire others. The Times reports that Cortes’ probation officer still calls him and asks him to speak with at-risk teens and young adults, encouraging them to turn their lives around.

“You can always change, you can get out of your darkest times,” Cortes told the Times. “People speak to change, but if you don’t physically take action, all the manifesting in the world isn’t going to work. My main thing is to inspire those with their back against the wall. It’s never too late. I’m proof.”