Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She added the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
