Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage showed a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed 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 judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She added the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
