For many, Covid was life-changing. The world shut down, and isolation became a constant thing for many.

But life-changing doesn’t always mean bad.

And the mindless scrolling of Instagram to pass the time ended up being the very thing that saved one man.

Danny Cortes was out of work, in the process of getting divorced on probation for selling drugs. So when Covid hit, he found himself with too much time on his hands.

While scrolling through Instagram for the hundredth time, Cortes came across a picture of a World War II scene, a painstakingly crafted diorama that someone had made. Then he saw ones of railroad tracks and movie set models. 

Cortes said he had always been a collector, and just started trying his hand at making dioramas. So he used some poster board and started building what he knew – the city around him. His first attempt was a bodega icebox. And in that 3-inch tall miniature, he found his new life.

Artist Danny Cortes shows miniature pieces of art that he creates for clients out of his apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News

“I loved that when I worked on a piece, I didn’t think about my problems — my divorce, the pandemic,” Cortes said.

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.”

More than three years have passed and Cortes’ work is collected by music stars and athletes and earns him thousands. His first piece, the ice box, sold for nearly $2,000.

“Now I wake up,” he said, “and I’m like, wow, I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this.”

While his earlier life had been troubled, he had started working in maintenance at the time of Covid. His life had been turning around.

So the hobby was simply a way to keep himself sane, and maybe make a little extra money.

And when he posted his creations on Instagram, the icebox, a dumpster, a graffiti-scrawled mailbox, the response was huge. 

And unexpected.

“If I was doing art (before), it would be vandalizing, graffiti. I did for a while — tagging walls and stuff,” he said. “It was something everyone did as a kid.”

But now, not only is his art changing his life, it’s preserving a way of life for New Yorkers that is slowly changing.

“I love everything abandoned,” he said, “everything rusty, dirty. When you pass by a dumpster, most people usually don’t take time to stop, breathe, forget about your daily life in New York and the hustle and bustle. Take your time, look around. You can see beauty in a rust drip.”

Photo by Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times

Now Cortes uses his talent to also talk to at-risk teens and encourage them that there is more to the world than drugs and jail.

“You can always change, you can get out of your darkest times,” he said. “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.”

For a look at the miniatures that Cortes makes, watch below.

Sources: New York Times | NY Daily News