"We never stop being children (...) Who doesn't like toys? Who doesn't like miniatures?", smiles the 42-year-old artist, sitting in the middle of all kinds of objects recovery, in his studio in Bushwick, a district of Brooklyn.

On his table, a work in progress, a replica of a faded and dirty brick facade.

Near bricked-up windows hangs a plastic crate that serves as a basketball hoop.

"It represents my childhood (...) everything looked like that, abandoned, empty", "(there was) a lot of drugs in the neighborhood", he describes, working his material, polystyrene.

From 30 to 10,000 dollars

Among his other recent creations, a modest Chinese restaurant with a damaged yellow sign and mauve and red brick walls dotted with graffiti.

The hands of Danny Cortes, a 42-year-old artist, in his studio where he recreated in miniature the urban settings steeped in New York's hip hop culture, December 19, 2022 © Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

In front of the establishment - the real one - Danny Cortes, cap on his round face and black jacket, still smiles while telling that the New York rapper Joell Ortiz, who grew up nearby, absolutely wanted to afford it.

The price?

"10,000 dollars," replies Danny Cortes.

"The first piece I sold was $30 and I was so happy," he recalls.

The artist creates collectibles from the most ordinary urban settings, "those little things we pass by every day", which we end up forgetting, but which make up the landscape of the megalopolis.

ice cube fridge

One of his first signatures is a simple ice cube fridge, a white piece of furniture crossed out with the letters "ICE" which sits on the sidewalks of many grocery stores, most often covered with graffiti, stickers and posters, which he reproduces meticulously with a brush. .

Danny Cortes, a 42-year-old artist, holds the miniature model of the Brooklyn Chinese restaurant he recreated, in front of the establishment, December 19, 2022 © Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

His repertoire also includes the ice cream van, which can be seen in Spike Lee's film "Do the right thing" (1989) and which young New Yorkers still know the sound of the chime.

Typical images nourished by nostalgia on which he adds the effigies of legendary local rappers, such as Notorious BIG or the Wu-Tang Clan.

Danny Cortes wasn't always an artist.

But the pandemic has changed his life, pushing him to make a hobby a more assiduous activity, he who had chained trades in sales, construction, or in a homeless shelter.

When he exhibited his first creations on social networks, "it just took off", he summarizes.

Danny Cortes, a 42-year-old artist, holds the miniature model of an ice cube fridge, in front of the real object, in Brooklyn, New York, on December 19, 2022 © Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

The artistic label Mass Appeal, of which rap legend Nas is a figure, commissioned him to model a ghetto-blaster for the cover of a mini-album by DJ Premier ("Hip Hop 50: Vol 1").

Last March, four of his works also landed in a "hip hop" auction at Sotheby's, including an ice cream truck that went for $2,200.

"Dirty and rough"

"He really knows how to capture that grimy, gritty atmosphere in which 1990s hip-hop was born in New York," praises Monica Lynch, former president of Tommy Boy Records and consultant for this sale.

Through his work, Danny Cortes also wants to "document" a space "that is constantly changing", in particular his neighborhood of Bushwick, today a trendy haunt of artists and a symbol of a gentrification he does not regret.

Danny Cortes, a 42-year-old artist, in his Brooklyn studio where he recreated in miniature the urban settings steeped in New York's hip hop culture, December 19, 2022 © Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

"I think it's good, it's safer. Even though Bushwick will always be Bushwick, there are more opportunities," he said.

His art is not limited to Brooklyn.

He also made a miniature replica of an Atlanta restaurant for its owner, rapper 2 Chainz.

© 2022 AFP