Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.