System requirements:

MS Windows: 80486 processor, double­speed CD­ROM drive, SVGA monitor, MS Windows 3.1.
Macintosh: 68040 or PowerPC processor, double­speed CD­ROM drive, 13" monitor, System 7.1.

ArtLook provides more than 6,000 images of the work of over 500 of the world s "emerging and mid­career contemporary artists" in each two volume annual subscription. It proposes to fill the needs of students, for whom "looking is learning," of instructors who want to assemble "slide shows," and of collectors examining the wares of "established and cutting edge" galleries. The subscription includes four copies of each volume with full site licensing, so that regardless of institutional networking capabilities the CD-ROM can be viewed by simultaneous users.

Images in the initial release were culled from 90 galleries in eight U. S. Cities, with more than half from New York and California. Painting dominates all other media represented by a ratio of nearly two to one, and nearly two thirds of the artists shown are male. Most works date from the 1990s, but curious inclusions, such as the 19th-century photographs of Carleton Watkins, seem more driven by gallery stock than the product s stated scope.

Images are sharp and fill the monitor screen. Screen design is clear and uncluttered, although navigation is not always straightforward. The database cannot be exited from the introductory screen, and getting back to a previous screen is often a two step process.

Searching options include artist, media (painting, sculpture, photography, or installation),

style, size, city, gallery and price. The user selects from an alphabetical list and may then select thumbnail images for full­screen viewing. Information about the work, artist biographies and statements, and gallery information can be accessed through buttons on the image screens.

While the ability to search by media is potentially beneficial to those interested in the use of

specific materials, all media represented in the database are not searchable. Drawing, printmaking, and ceramics, for example, do not logically fit the four major media designations, even though there are examples of each in the database. Wood­fired stoneware by Peter Voulkos can be found only in an artist search or by randomly browsing the database. A combined search on Voulkos's name and the sculpture medium retrieves no matches, even though ceramic works by Viola Frey can be found using the same search combination. If indeed the CD-ROM contains over 3,000 images, nearly 400 of them cannot be retrieved searching by medium alone. And a structural medium such as earthenware is not searchable under sculpture, although a surface treatment such as oil is. A comprehensive list of media, or keyword searching capability, would allow for more specific and relevant image searching.

The "slide show" feature allows the user to compile a series of images for sequential viewing. An image comparison feature shows images side by side, but its usefulness is limited since only two images rather than a slide show sequence of image pairs can be saved to disk.

Although ArtLook is designed for both Macintosh and Windows, it shows a Macintosh
platform preference. For example, the user is directed to use the "Apple" key, and the equivalent
"Control" key in Windows does not work when selecting more than one artist. A more serious
problem with the first volume is that even though a slide show can be constructed during a Windows session, it cannot be saved to disk for later editing and viewing. ArtLook's technical support line has assured me that this problem will be corrected for the release of volume two.

ArtLook is fun to browse, but at an annual subscription price of $695, it should be more
reliable and provide more sophisticated searching. The text needs to be checked for misspellings
and edited so that formatting and citation style are consistent. All essays should, but do not, print
out with a full citation including author and title. ArtLook's promotional literature promises that the publishers will seek input from their subscribers so that future volumes will better suit the market. I strongly encourage art librarians to obtain a copy for preview before committing to a subscription.

Tom Riedel

University of Wyoming