Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked 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.”
She added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.