Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
