Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
