H20/sio2 Water Bags
4 works
Dylan Martinez BF 17 (Skeleton Fish) For Sale
Dylan Martinez
BF 17 (Skeleton Fish), 2026
Glass Sculptures - Hot Sculpted, Sandblasted, Acid Etched
11.25 x 5.5 x 4
About this work
Dylan Martinez has established himself as one of the most technically accomplished glass artists working today, commanding significant attention from collectors who recognize the extraordinary difficulty of his chosen medium. His work occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of scientific precision and artistic expression, with pieces held in private collections internationally. BF 17 (Skeleton Fish) exemplifies Martinez's virtuosic command of hot-sculpted glass, a process requiring split-second decisions and years of accumulated expertise. The work presents an anatomical study of piscine skeletal architecture, rendered with remarkable fidelity to biological form. At 11.25 by 5.5 by 4 inches, the sculpture achieves an intimate scale that invites close examination of its intricate details. The combination of sandblasting and acid etching creates a surface quality that shifts between opacity and translucence, allowing light to penetrate and illuminate the internal structure in ways that recall both laboratory specimen and ethereal apparition. The piece demonstrates Martinez's ongoing investigation into the tension between fragility and permanence, mortality and preservation. Glass, a material that exists in a perpetual state between solid and liquid, becomes the ideal medium for capturing the paradox of the skeleton, that most enduring remnant of living creatures. The fish form carries rich symbolic weight across cultures, suggesting transformation, the unconscious, and the hidden depths beneath visible surfaces. Guy Hepner invites inquiries regarding the acquisition of this exceptional work. Please contact the gallery for availability, pricing, and additional documentation.
$5,000
Edition & Provenance
- Year
- 2026
- Medium
- Glass Sculptures - Hot Sculpted, Sandblasted, Acid Etched
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About the Swedish Fish Water Bags Series
The Swedish Fish Water Bags take everything Martinez does with his water bag sculptures and add one more thing to disbelieve. A plastic bag, filled with water, tied at the top and completely convincing in glass. Then, inside it, Swedish Fish candy. The forms sit at the bottom the way loose candy would if you'd actually dropped a handful in — red, suspended, and completely still.
Each piece is hot-sculpted, sandblasted, and acid-etched by hand, the same process Martinez developed for his original H2O/SiO2 water bags, the series that first brought him international attention and a place in collections including the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. That earlier body of work asked a single question: can glass convincingly pass for a water-filled plastic bag? Swedish Fish Water Bags adds a second layer. The bag alone is about illusion and material — the transparency, the trapped air, the slight give of a tied neck. The candy inside is about memory, the specific reddish translucency and soft-edged shape of something most people haven't thought about since childhood.
Getting both illusions to hold at once is more demanding than it looks. The candy has to read correctly through the "water," which itself has to read correctly as it would through real plastic, all while the piece is worked from solid, hot glass rather than assembled from separate elements. It is Martinez's most recent iteration of the water bag concept, presented as a numbered, ongoing series and shown in a dedicated viewing room at Square One Gallery, "Swedish Fish Water Bags — The Newest Iteration of the Water Bag Series."
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.