Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She said the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
