Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative 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 stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
