Betsy Eby
Betsy Eby is an American painter and musician known for abstract encaustic works built from layered wax, gestural line, color, and musical structure.
Painter
Martin Kline
Martin Kline is an American painter who builds abstract works from encaustic and pigmented wax on rigid wood panels, often creating layered relief.
Martin Kline quick facts
Kline's abstract panels use encaustic and pigmented wax, building layered relief on rigid wood supports that shape both the surface and the image.
| Full name | Martin Kline |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 · Norwalk, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | — |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Contemporary abstraction |
| Paint types | Encaustic paint |
| Other media | — |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Plywood · Wood panels · Linen · Paper |
| Painting methods | Repeated layers of encaustic and pigmented wax built into projecting relief on rigid panels |
| Common subjects | Abstract blooms, nests, and organic forms inspired by natural structures |
| Notable works | Nest · Essence · Grey Bloom |
Sources: Whitney Museum of American Art, The Met: Nest, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Essence, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Abstraction Spectrum, and Whitney: Grey Bloom.
Paint types used by Martin Kline
Records document Martin Kline’s use of Encaustic paint, with examples below linking each medium to a specific work and its role in the image.
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Encaustic paint
The Met records Kline’s Nest (2000) as encaustic on a plywood panel with a wood frame. The work documents wax-bound paint as a distinct medium and separates it from the structural panel and frame; the thick, built surface extends Kline’s interest in process and material.
Sources: The Met: Nest; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Essence; MFAH: Martin Kline collection.
Painting surfaces used by Martin Kline
Martin Kline's documented works use plywood, wood, linen; examples distinguish the painted surface from its support or object in each cited work.
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Plywood
The Met catalogs Kline’s Nest (2000) as encaustic on plywood panel. The rigid support carries a layered, built-up wax surface, while the frame remains a separate structural component. This object record documents plywood directly for one of his constructed paintings.
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Wood
Kline also works with wood panels as rigid supports for layered forms. His paintings and constructions bring the panel into visible relation with wax and other materials, rather than hiding it as a neutral backing. The Met’s Nest documents a plywood panel with a separate wood frame.
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Linen
Kline used linen in selected paintings, where the woven textile remains visible beneath applied material. The flexible ground differs from his rigid plywood panels and gives these works a distinct surface texture; collection records identify linen in specific pieces within his broader practice.
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Paper
Paper supports drawings and studies related to Kline’s painted constructions. The flexible sheet allows preparatory marks and material tests to be made separately from his more substantial wax-on-panel works, documenting a distinct format within his studio practice. These sheets are separate from his finished panels.
Sources: Whitney Museum of American Art, The Met: Nest, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Essence, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Abstraction Spectrum, Whitney: Grey Bloom.
Painters similar to Martin Kline
Explore painters similar to Martin Kline through encaustic, pigmented wax, layered surfaces, abstraction, and painting built physically on rigid supports.
Tony Scherman
Tony Scherman is a Canadian painter known for figurative and historical paintings made with encaustic, along with documented work in oil and acrylic.