H20/sio2 Water Bags
4 works
Dylan Martinez Swedish Fish No. 80 For Sale
Dylan Martinez
Swedish Fish No. 80, 2026
Glass Sculptures - Hot Sculpted, Sandblasted, Acid Etched
12.25 x 6.75 x 4.5”
About this work
Dylan Martinez has established himself as one of the most technically accomplished glass artists working today, pushing the boundaries of what the medium can achieve through his labor-intensive process combining hot sculpting, sandblasting, and acid etching. His work sits at the intersection of hyperrealism and pop culture commentary, transforming mundane consumer objects into meditations on American excess, nostalgia, and the seductive power of packaging. Swedish Fish No. 80 belongs to Martinez's ongoing candy series, in which the artist recreates familiar confections at an enlarged scale with meticulous attention to material authenticity. The work required multiple kiln firings and surface treatments to achieve the characteristic translucency and saturated red hue of the original Swedish Fish candy, while the sandblasted and acid-etched finish replicates the subtle matte texture of the gummy surface. At just over twelve inches in length, the sculpture occupies an uncanny space between the recognizable and the monumental, inviting viewers to reconsider an object typically consumed without thought. Martinez's glass works have gained considerable traction among collectors seeking pieces that demonstrate both conceptual rigor and exceptional craft. His ability to elevate kitsch subject matter through virtuoso technique has drawn comparisons to the strategies employed by Pop artists of earlier generations, yet his commitment to the handmade and his deep engagement with glass as a fine art medium distinguish his practice as wholly contemporary. The work arrives with full documentation from the artist's studio. For acquisition inquiries regarding Swedish Fish No. 80, please contact Guy Hepner.
$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. The candy sits at the bottom the way it would if you'd actually dropped a handful in. Red, suspended, completely still.
Each piece is hot sculpted, sandblasted, and acid etched by hand. The process is the same as his water bag work, but the subject does something different. The water bag alone is about illusion and material. The Swedish Fish inside it are about memory. The technique is more demanding than it looks. Getting the candy forms to read correctly inside the illusion of water, inside the illusion of plastic, requires everything he has built over years of practice.
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.