“Non fungible” more or less means that it's unique and can't be replaced with something else. In contrast, “fungible” would be something you own and could trade with something that is exactly the same. 

 Go Back In Time Around 2009, when I first encountered the definition of Bitcoin up close in real life. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. At that time, the image of Bitcoin was between investment and speculation. It was sometimes explained with the concepts of black money or money laundry, so it was an unknown currency to the public. I thought of your Bitcoin as something out of the ordinary, but like a lottery ticket for the lucky ones. At that time, I received an offer for Bitcoin from a visitor. What if I could sell my paintings for Bitcoin? Perhaps my future would have been a little different if I had sold my paintings in Bitcoin. As far as I know, many people have had a lot of opportunities just passed by, like in my case.

Now, Bitcoin is quite well known, and it is sometimes invested as a financial product. It is a familiar story that always comes up when people are interested in personal finance and investments.​

  ​And nowadays, the hot topic of 2021 has been moved to NFT. It also means that interest in digital images and digital copyrights has increased among the people. Since I am doing digital artwork, I am even very concerned about this concept of NFT. Ultimately, I want the original image I created to be traceable and valuable. And I hope the people who buy my digital works will benefit more over time. NFT is equipped with a blockchain-based built-in scarcity value and verification system in the digital image in line with this concept.

   When you buy an NFT, the person who buys it owns the "real" original file. The more this digital content is consumed and famous, the more value the original owner gets.

Traditionally, once work is physically sold in the art world, the artist no longer has revenue from future sales. That's it. However, if you sell digital files via NFT, you will continue to make money after the first transaction. As the original creator of a digital asset, you receive a discount on all future sales of that NFT.

The concept is similar to royalty, with the main difference being that NFTs can be automatically tracked and reconciled using a blockchain that does not require a third party. With NFT, these royalties are automatically collected and distributed to all sales via a decentralized blockchain.

Ultimately, NFTs allow digital artists to create scarcity for their creations, track future sales of those works, and share the future value created.

An NFT is like its digital equivalent. In other words, with NFT, the blockchain acts as a built-in verification system that can instantly trace an item to its origin. Because NFT can create digital scarcity, they can satisfy the collector's desire for the files. It can also be used as a store of value that potentially grows over time. 

 ​This collection of 5,000 images is the most expensive NFT Sold. This digital art piece is called EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS and was created by artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple. Everydays sold for $69.3 million on March 11, 2021.

   Criticism of the NFT is not uncommon. No matter how “original” they are, digital files are just data in the computer. The Conversation, a non-profit academic media, pointed out that “NFT works are ‘consensual hallucinations,’ and they work because of the mutual hallucination of scarcity.” The media said of buying an NFT work even though you can make a copy of the original, saying, "You're just paying for the aura of authenticity, and the ability to sell that aura to others." There is also the view that the popularity of NFTs has been overestimated in the first place.

  Now, the future of traveling to Mars is no surprise. Auto pilot driving cars are running on the roads with your manual vehicle, and individuals can even travel to space. Artificial intelligence-based computer technology has advanced dramatically and is now threatening human lives and job positions.  

​ Artificial intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to natural intelligence displayed by  humans.  Ai-Da is a humanoid robot credited with being the world's first ultra-realistic robot artist. Completed in 2019, Ai-Da is an artificial intelligence robot that makes drawings, painting, and sculptures. She is named after Ada Lovelace. 

  Aida, an artificial intelligence artist, looks like a mid-level painter. Aida made her debut as a painter in the UK in 2019. Aida's eyes observe objects with a camera, built-in computer software envisions the work, and the robot's hands are bionically designed to hold a brush and draw a picture. It is characterized by being able to draw people or objects as they appear. The process calculates the path according to the algorithm and then interprets the coordinates to create the work. Only Aida knows what kind of picture she is drawing. . Additionally, Aida can not only draw what it looks like, but also answer simple questions from customers.

 Aida's first exhibition under the theme of 'Unsecured Future' earned more than $1 million (about KRW 1.1 billion) in auction revenue last year, and after a successful conclusion, the second exhibition was held at the Design Museum in London, England, in May of this year. opened. 

   In the field of art and all fields, we will have to find a way to survive the competition with artificial intelligence. Above all, even in art, where intuition and creativity are the basics, it is surprising that artificial intelligence has learned its methods and algorithms and continues to develop. Then, how can we distinguish between a painting drawn by an artist and a painting drawn by artificial intelligence? When painter's implement a picture through digital art or photography, what will create the boundary between artworks and a simple copied image? It shows that it is time for painters to look back on their own with what art is. 

 As a painter, when I research about the artificial intelligence, I first see their works. And afterwards, I response immediately "Wow! It's well-drawn. I have a feeling that Ai drew similarly like a human". However, I realized at the same time that it is useless evaluate with only compliments. 

 If there is no emotion conveyed through the picture, it is not real artworks. Suppose you do not feel any feelings such as loneliness, joy, happiness, sadness, or depression through a painting. In that case, it will be treated as if it were drawn by a machine, no matter how much a human drawing is. Above all, you have set a more dangerous path if you have copied someone's technique and style without your personality. A painting should reveal the artist's personality and unique attributes, just like a digitally drawn or manual sign. So it may be that I am insisting on my own technique and my own feeling. If the artist's personality, the weight of life, and the emotions he wants to convey are not revealed through the work, the boundaries between what is an artificial work and what is a human work will be blurred. In the future, artificial intelligence will continue to develop further. Perhaps someday, it will surpass human skill and art style. When faced with such a reality, I wish I could say that what humans draw is more comforting.

  For this reason, I am very happy when the exhibition is over, and the curators and visitors say, "Anna, your paintings are very different!". "It's different," that is, it's not that You're not good at drawing or good at drawing, but that's what you drew exactly. I love that word. That's the best compliment.

 I wish my drawing were like my autograph or signature. I hope that works like my alter ego can convey the feeling I want to share. That is the ultimate direction in which I work.

 No matter how advanced artificial intelligence is, it will not keep up with the personality that is recorded moment by moment in life. Just like the crows from "borrows plum" in Aesop's fables can be packed and fancy, but they do not have the black properties of a crow when painters realize their actual unique properties, they will be able to find a key that can surpass artificial intelligence.

 ​What if a billionaire lives in a $50,000 container box house? It's happening in the real world. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has moved from California to Texas, has revealed that he lives in a $50,000 home. Musk's Texas home is near the Boca Chica launch site of SpaceX, a space exploration company he founded. Teslarati, an electric vehicle media outlet, quotes a source saying that Musk's Texas home is a prefab rental house of Boxable's 'Casita' model. This model is a 34 m² house with a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.

  The mobile home he bought and lived in was made by a company called Boxable. Boxsable, headquartered in Las Vegas, USA, delivers a 375 square foot about Casita to a customer's desired location for $49,500 and can be installed immediately after delivery. It is easy to assemble and can be stacked in two layers, and the kitchen, bathroom, electricity, plumbing, etc., can be installed in the factory. Once you arrive where the Casita is to be installed, the work will be completed within a few hours. 

  In Box Sable's official video, the difference with new technology was clearly shown while reproducing the appearance of a mobile house delivered by conventional methods.
It seems that the moment has come when everyone must run without stopping. With the repeated emergence of new technologies, all the past may have to be kept in museums.
In this rapidly changing era, creative thinking has become an essential element, not a success element. Rather than adapting to new technology, it is now necessary to create that new technology, a new idea.

  We always get busy around this time. As the Christmas season begins soon, we prepare gifts and cards.

 Christmas card is a greeting of love and friendship.
It is said that around 1782, when the author Charles Dickens published [A Christmas Carol], students in British boarding schools drew pictures on Christmas cards and sent them to their parents and friends at home. This is the beginning of the officially known Christmas card.

​These Christmas cards were first commercialized in England in 1843.

At that time, Sir Henry Cole of the Royal Society of England had his friend, designer John C. Horsley, draw a Christmas card and printed it.

As cards, which used to be made by hand, were produced on a large scale, Christmas cards became a global custom with the wings of postal development.

  It has been commercialized in this way, and now, if people like it, they can buy a variety of cards through the Internet or a store and send them to their friends and family.

 But I have a painter that comes to mind when I think of Christmas cards. He was an American painter, Thomas Kinkade, who is called the painter of light. Because his paintings, which are bright and warm like a fairy tale, make you feel nostalgic for Christmas, but above all, it is because of his anecdotes about Christmas cards. 

  Kinkade visited his mother's (Maryann Kinkade) home in his hometown of Placerville around Christmas 1977. He tries to help by selling his painting after hearing from her mother that she will soon sell her house because of the mortgage payment. However, his paintings do not sell quickly. One day he visits the home of his master, who taught him how to draw. He finds and is moved thereby his master, who is ill and working hard until late at night. The teacher advises the desperate disciple to paint for the people he loves and those who love his paintings. Encouraged by his teacher's words, he draws Christmas cards distributes them to his neighbors. After then the miracle of Christmas comes. His paintings and passion are spread through neighbors and people who are moved by his paintings. Those who previously criticized and turned away from his paintings are now enthusiastic about his paintings. He earned more than 100 million dollars (about 110 billion won) every year and was renowned as the world's best-selling painter. His teacher's advice and his love for his mother became the most loved painting in the world. The most distinctive feature of his paintings is that each house is lit with a warm yellow light. The artist's warm consolation towards the cold world seems to be felt. The warm yellow light conveyed to us who are weary of the world gives us a sense of energy when we are tired and suffering from life.

 This year, thanks to such warm comfort, I made a Christmas card image.
​

  ​Like the painter Kinkade, who wanted to give a bright light to a dark heart, I want to convey a warm heart during the Christmas season. Hope you all have a happy season. I hope that even at this time, there will be a lot of comfort and hope for those who have to just watch this warm light outside in the cold.

  ​The below Stone Age stones were on display at the British Museum in 2005.

   At first glance, You don't know in details but look at the shape of the picture. A caveman is pushing a shopping cart. These nonsensical Stone Age fake artifacts were seen under the monitors for several hours. But no one believed and catched that this was not a Stone Age stone. Probably either they wasn't interested, or they just overlooked it even though it looks like a comic cartoon.
Banksy, a world-renowned graffiti artist, did this performance. In addition to the British Museum, he put his fake stones at the Natural History Museum in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a mockery of art lovers interested in art but could not escape from the bluff and capitalist thinking. 

  Vincent van Gogh also had a story about working as a salesman at a painting store and arguing with a customer looking for paintings for decoration purposes only.

  As an artist, I acknowledge a gap between the person who makes the work and the artlover who buys it. Seeing the wine bar more crowded than the exhibition hall makes me feel lonely. Others seem to want the artist's art diploma, or award to be affixed behind the picture frame. It would be better for them to hang a diploma or award certification in front of the painting. Some people emphasize and brag about the image of a famous person. The trophy of the picture is better than the picture itself. Some say it is more valuable because it was drawn by a professor who graduated from a top-notch university. If there is a premise that one can draw only after attending a top-notch university, he would be right.
If you listen to these stories daily, you will understand why Banksy is doing such  as performances.

  Contemplating between art and business blurs the line between fraud and speculation. And if you work with sincerity in art, you will be criticized for being outdated. However, if you only paint commercially, the development of the artist's world of work disappears. There are so many dilemmas and paradoxes.

 But the sincerity of art makes it act like Banksy, even if it seems a bit odd. As a naive artist, Henri Rousseau was tough to get exhibition opportunities in Paris at the time. At that time, the painter groups with authority placed more importance on the academic route, and the cartel, which recognized only their own group, rejected and ridiculed his demanding work. But he so wanted to hang his paintings in the exhibition hall. So it is a very famous anecdote that the curator hung his own painting secretly between the paintings of other painters while he was asleep. As Banksy said, Henri Rousseau made them uncomfortable, who had never felt uncomfortable in their league.

 It is good news as an artist if your artistic actions and works are criticized by those who have comfortably owned and enjoyed art, or if someone doesn't like your work and career.

 I am looking for the answer in the dream of Henri Rousseau's last work, the power that makes existing conventions and inertia embarrassing and uncomfortable. He painted from his own point of view thoroughly. Despite the criticism and ridicule around him, he never gave up on his dream of painting. His passion for expressing his dreams through painting eventually makes us realize that the sincerity of art exists. This authenticity teaches many lessons to us who stand precariously on the border between art and business.