Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
