Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer 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 popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the local government would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
