Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
