H20/sio2 Water Bags
4 works
Dylan Martinez Inky Pac-Man Ghost For Sale
Dylan Martinez
Inky Pac-Man Ghost, 2026
Hand blown glass sculpture
5.75' high x 6' round
About this work
Dylan Martinez has established himself as one of the most technically accomplished glass artists working today, bridging the gap between contemporary art and master craftsmanship. His work sits at the intersection of pop culture iconography and traditional Venetian glassblowing techniques, a combination that has garnered significant attention from collectors seeking pieces that challenge the boundaries between fine art and decorative object. Inky Pac-Man Ghost represents Martinez's continued exploration of nostalgic digital imagery rendered in physical form. At nearly six feet in height, this hand blown glass sculpture transforms the familiar 8-bit specter into a monumental presence, its translucent blue form capturing and refracting light in ways that shift throughout the day. The scale is deliberate—Martinez has spoken about his interest in elevating ephemeral screen-based imagery to the permanence and weight of sculptural tradition. The technical demands of creating a piece of this size in hand blown glass cannot be overstated; maintaining structural integrity while achieving the smooth, rounded contours requires extraordinary skill and precision. This work belongs to Martinez's broader series examining the visual language of early video games, a body of work that has found receptive audiences among collectors who came of age during the medium's formative years. The series speaks to themes of memory, childhood, and the curious ways digital experiences become embedded in collective consciousness. Each piece in this series is unique, shaped by the inherent variability of the glassblowing process. For acquisition inquiries regarding this work by Dylan Martinez, please contact Guy Hepner directly.
Price on Application
Edition & Provenance
- Year
- 2026
- Medium
- Hand blown glass sculpture
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Related Reading
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.
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.