Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She said the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag 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 sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
