Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that restoration to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
