Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic 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, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
