Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
