Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew 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 influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
