The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 13, 2026

A bronze sculpture, a horizontal bat with a flaring handle, extends into a barrel encrusted with dense rows of gold-toned, rounded projections. The handle's smooth, matte-gray finish graduates into the studded section, creating a rough texture across the right side. The object terminates in a blunt, cylindrical tip. Light glinting off the metal highlights a shift from sleek gray at the left to a warm, golden luster along the barrel.

Bling Bat

2007

Martin Kline

(American, b. 1961)
America
bronze
83.2 x 8.3 x 8.3 cm (32 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Gift of the Artist 2024.153
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The techniques that Kline uses for this sculpture were popular in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt.

Description

Martin Kline is an American painter and sculptor whose work references Western and Eastern cultural practices. He often draws from art history, philosophy, and nature for the creation of his work. Trained in studio art with a focused study of Italian Renaissance painting, Kline moved to abstraction following his move to New York in the 1980s. Working in an abstracted style, Kline references flora, organisms, and mythological and literary characters. In Bling Bat, the artist draws on a technique of accumulated wax layers to build form, depth, and texture, giving objects a topographical quality, which is then cast in bronze.
  • 2007–2024
    Martin Kline, [b. 1961], Rhinebeck, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2024
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Bling Bat|url=false|author=Martin Kline|year=2007|access-date=13 April 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.153