By Ignacio Villarreal

This past December 3rd, 2005, we announced the closing of ArtDaily.
The End was the title of the closing page.
I argumented problems due to my health and obviously my financial standing to continue this effort that began in 1996.

One week ago we announced on the site:

ArtDaily is back!

Finally, ArtDaily has seen the light at the end of the tunnel. And no, it is not the locomotive coming towards us head on, but the exit to the tunnel.

People with great vision and enormous success in the business world, who support many and very diverse causes, have seen ArtDaily with good eyes. This has given us new strength to continue once again with this project that was born ten years ago.

What happened?

This is not a game: ArtDaily is a part of my life. ArtDaily has taken up 10 years of the 48 years that I have been working.

Making, creating, designing and producing this site on a daily basis during the past 10 years has become, in this last decade, the reason to be and to exist, in a very real and healthy passion. There has never been any money in exchange for this work. There has been something even more important: the gratefulness from our readers for this project, eight thousand people visiting us everyday, “opening” this page from 120 countries worldwide.

Having received 49 awards during this time, is not an easy thing to do. Without going after the awards. They have been awarded by institutions or companies that have much to “blame” so that this project does not end, who have seen or whose systems have qualified ArtDaily with the best grades.
Today, without going any further, ArtDaily is still in 3rd place in Yahoo´s directory. If you search the word directory and put the word art and press enter the answer will be that ArtDaily is in 3rd place on that search. The Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus and the National Gallery of Art in Washington are only ahead of ArtDaily. This is a great honor and is more worthwhile than most first places.

Third place, symbolically, throughout the whole world is a bronze medal (we are talking about sports obviously) and this gives us strength, it makes us happy. Who is bitter about receiving a piece of candy?

But there are even more important reasons why ArtDaily can return. Health: recently in Hamburg, Germany, towards the end of last year, Dr. Winfried Fahlbusch took care of my poor health and quickly caught that silent killer called diabetes that came also with high blood pressure. Dr. Fahlbusch is a marvellous doctor to whom in one of my last visits I told: I have known many doctors throughout my life, but you are truly exceptional. His response was to point upwards with his index finger and said, “the best doctor is up there”; and the best medicine was written a long time ago: forgive your enemies.

Outside the doctor´s office it was snowing, but that answer left me cold inside.

And it was due to Dr. Fahlbusch and Dr. Jorge Siller – once I went back to Mexico – and obviously thanks to God, that my health has gotten much better.

I will now go on to another event that happened almost at the same time. I received an invitation to collaborate in one of the world´s best companies, who are very strong in the communications sector.

Today I can say that I have never felt better working for a company in all my life. And most important of all, surrounded by great professionals that allow one to work with great desire and that allow one to give his best.

Thanks to all the doctors. Thanks to all the heads and co-workers of this company where I now work, and obviously, thanks to all our readers who wrote us and motivated us to go on, to all those who uploaded their comments about ArtDaily and to those who gave us the awards that invited us to become better each and every day.

Today we go back to the same daily routine, with the promise to make a better newspaper everyday. For the first time ever, today, you can watch videos that were left on the cutting room floor for the past ten years. I hope you enjoy them.
To all of you, and last but not least, I thank all of those who have made ArtDaily, to all of you, my sincerest thanks.