Guy Hepner Gallery

Dylan Martinez Blinky Pac-Man Ghost For Sale

Dylan Martinez
Dylan Martinez - Blinky Pac-Man Ghost, 2026, Hand blown glass sculpture

Blinky Pac-Man Ghost, 2026

Hand blown glass sculpture

6” high x 6.25” round

About this work

Dylan Martinez has established himself as a leading figure in the contemporary glass art movement, bridging the gap between fine craft traditions and pop culture commentary. Working from his studio in Los Angeles, Martinez brings a rigorous technical practice to subjects drawn from digital nostalgia, transforming ephemeral screen imagery into enduring physical form. His work has garnered significant attention from collectors who recognize the precision required to achieve his signature sculptural presence in hand blown glass. Blinky Pac-Man Ghost represents Martinez's ongoing exploration of early video game aesthetics, a body of work that examines how pixelated imagery from the 1980s has become embedded in collective visual memory. The piece renders the familiar red antagonist from the 1980 arcade classic in luminous glass, its compact dimensions of six inches high by six and a quarter inches round concentrating the sculpture's formal impact. Martinez's process demands exceptional control over the medium, as the character's distinctive shape and saturated color must be achieved through careful manipulation of molten material rather than surface application. The result is a work that holds light within its form, shifting in appearance as ambient conditions change throughout the day. This 2026 work continues Martinez's investigation into how objects from digital environments can assume new weight and permanence when translated into traditional craft media. The tension between the ghost's original function as an insubstantial screen element and its current existence as a solid, handmade object speaks to broader questions about materiality in an increasingly virtual age. For acquisition inquiries regarding this work, please contact Guy Hepner.

Price on Application

Sell or Consign

Edition & Provenance

Year
2026
Medium
Hand blown glass sculpture

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More series by Dylan Martinez

About the Pac- Man Ghosts Series

Martinez built his reputation on making people question what they're looking at. Hand-blown glass, rendered in the unmistakable forms from the original arcade game. The shapes are simple, almost cartoonish, but that's what makes them work. Pac-Man has been part of visual culture for nearly fifty years. Martinez doesn't need to reinvent it. He just needs to bring it into the room in the right material, and glass does something to these forms that plastic or resin never could. They catch light. They have presence. They feel permanent in a way the original pixels never were.

This is also a series where color does the heavy lifting. After years working primarily in clear glass, the Ghosts are bold and direct. Red, pink, blue, orange. Each piece is its own thing but they're clearly in conversation with each other, which is part of why collectors tend to want more than one.

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Blinky Pac-Man Ghost

About Dylan Martinez

Dylan Martinez is a contemporary glass artist based Washington State, USA. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Glass from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he studied broad field science with a minor in outdoor education. His path to glass began as a college elective that quickly became a lifelong pursuit.

Martinez works entirely in hot glass, hand-sculpting each piece without molds or casting. His practice centers on perception and illusion, drawing on the technique of Trompe L'oeil to create works that challenge what the eye believes to be true. He is best known for his water bag sculptures, objects that are indistinguishable from plastic bags filled with water, made entirely from molten glass shaped between 650 and 1150 degrees. The work is animated by his own experience of red-green colorblindness, which has given him a lifelong interest in how perception shapes reality.

He has trained with master glassmakers across the United States and completed a residency with Venetian glass masters in Murano, Italy. His most recent series introduces color for the first time in years, with sculptural works referencing water balloons and Pac-Man imagery that signal a move toward pop art territory.

Martinez's work is held in the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida and the Kelime Müzesi in Ankara, Turkey, among other public and private collections. He has exhibited across the US, Italy, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Taiwan, and has been featured in Interior Design Magazine, American Craft Magazine, Elle Decoration, Aesthetica, and Colossal.

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