Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
