ArtTech, a combination of art and tech, is slowly emerging all over the world. As many people have become interested in investment products that can generate profits rather than just viewing art, ‘ArtTech’, an art investment that was limited to the wealthy, is establishing itself as a trend among the public. In the background, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made people enjoy online exhibitions, buying and selling works through online platforms has also been vitalized.

In particular, with the advent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that can have the value of scarcity, the global art market is facing a big wave. In the midst of such changes, NFTs and digital works are emerging as new investment destinations for the Millennials and Generation Z, and NFTs using blockchain encryption technology increase the scarcity value to authenticate the genuineness of digital artworks such as JPG files and videos, attracting interest from the industry and investors.

In this atmosphere, the work ‘White Ox (52x32cm)’ by Lee Jung Seob, a master of Korean modern and contemporary art, which was exhibited at Midopa Gallery in 1955, has been converted into an NFT work and is now on the global online NFT marketplace.

To realize this project, ArtofNFT, in charge of publishing and selling NFTs, explained that it reviewed the copyright and authenticity verification documents of the work several times and received a reply from the Korea Copyright Commission that the copyright protection period of artist Lee Jung Seob had expired.

Korea‘s copyright law is amended several times, and according to the revised Copyright Act on June 30, 2011, the period of protection for an individual’s work has been extended from 50 years to 70 years after the death of the author. However, if the 50-year protection period had expired before the effective date of the revised law on July 1, 2013, the copyright is completely extinguished and the benefit of the extension of the protection period is no longer available. Those works can be re-presented as NFT works.

White Ox (1953-1954), a representative work by Lee Jung Seob, a Korean western painter, symbolizes the life and spirit of Koreans. As if a white ox is moving, its mouth and nose are fluttering, and as if the white breath is spewing out along with the sound of rough breathing, the work breathes life into the ox with the rough brush strokes that feel like a mountain and the power of a mountain.

Lee Jung Seob's ‘White Ox’ NFT was issued so that the owner key can be completely transferred to the owner and at the same time, transaction history information is transparently disclosed to the blockchain network.