Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
