Danny Cortes

The Artist

With his largest scale work yet, Brooklyn-native and miniature artist Danny Cortes teleports us back in time with The Block, executed in 2023.

Standing over 5-feet tall, the present lot explores the iconography of the New York City block —featuring a diverse host of vignettes from a rooftop pigeon coop to a sneaky underground transaction in the subway. With it's 360° take on the streets we all know so well, The Block is an affectionately tongue-in-cheek representation of urban life in the city that gave birth to Hip Hop in 1973.

Brooklyn-based artist Danny Cortes creates intricate miniatures of iconic New York City places and objects that speak to a loving nostalgia for the artist's own childhood haunts and the early 1990s. What began as a creative hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic soon became a way to share the vanishing version of his beloved city with a wider audience thanks to social media. His miniatures include mailboxes, lampposts, Mister Softee trucks handball courts, storefronts, and as represented in the current lot, the iconic New York City newsstand complete with a milkcrate.

Noticing the omnipresent details of urban life all around him and bringing them lovingly to life in his 'toys for adults', Cortes now has a dedicated legion of fans and collectors including sports stars, Hip Hop artists, and—in true hometown fashion—New York City natives who crave a walk down memory lane.