Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She said the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
