Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to find 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 expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
