Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told 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 local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She said the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
