Think they are plastic bags filled with water? Look closer. Well-regarded American artist Dylan Martinez recently released a collection of hyper-realistic hand-blown glass sculptures that look deceptively like plastic bags, crafted using a combination of glassblowing and sculpting techniques. Whimsical though they may be, they hide the level of skill required to mould a sculpture from molten glass – the sculptures are, at once, both hollow and solid.
Inspired by Trompe L’oeil (an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create optical illusion), the sculptures are made entirely out of hot glass at a temperature between 650 and 1,150 degrees. The trapped rising bubbles and the gesture of the forms convince the eye that the sculptures are plastic bags of water.
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Works by the award-winning Martinez often put the spotlight on the boundaries of perception, and in the case of this series of work titled “H2O/SiO2”, he manipulates light, space and the optical properties of glass to challenge the viewer’s perception of reality. Interestingly, the fact that he is red-green colourblind affords him an alternative way of seeing things, which likely spurs him to create scenarios that requires one to navigate reality and illusion. While influenced by traditional techniques in glassmaking, he constantly strives to discover novel approaches to exploit the material and create a lens to view the world afresh.
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These sculptures are now available from Micucci Interiors, which offers an exclusive range of designer home accessories to add visual interest to your space.
