Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked 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 said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
