Dylan Martinez’s Swedish Fish series marks the latest evolution of his celebrated Water Bag sculptures, a body of work that has become synonymous with the artist’s exploration of nostalgia, material transformation, and playful illusion. Known for his meticulous handblown glass sculptures that convincingly replicate the appearance of everyday plastic water bags, Martinez continues to push the boundaries between the familiar and the unexpected. With this new edition, he introduces one of the most recognizable candies of childhood into the composition, capturing the bright red silhouettes of Swedish Fish suspended within the crystalline clarity of glass.
For years, collectors and followers of Martinez’s practice have requested a work featuring this iconic candy, making Swedish Fish one of the most anticipated additions to the series. The result is both humorous and technically impressive. Each sculpture is painstakingly handblown and sculpted to mimic the delicate folds, tension, and transparency of a thin plastic bag filled with water. Within it, the vibrant fish appear to float weightlessly, creating a moment of visual suspension that blurs the line between realism and illusion.
Martinez’s work thrives on this tension between material and perception. What initially appears to be a disposable object reveals itself, upon closer inspection, to be a labor-intensive glass sculpture. By elevating a humble, everyday visual trope into a carefully crafted art object, Martinez invites viewers to reconsider the value and permanence of objects typically associated with fleeting moments of joy.
The Swedish Fish edition builds upon the artist’s ongoing dialogue with pop culture, memory, and playfulness. Like much of Martinez’s work, the piece evokes the universal experience of childhood treats and small delights, while demonstrating a remarkable level of technical precision in glassmaking. The result is a work that feels both lighthearted and sophisticated—an object that captures a fleeting moment of nostalgia and preserves it indefinitely in glass.
