Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
