Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
