Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
