Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.
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 residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
