Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.