Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia 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, participated 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 recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received 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 artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.