Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
