Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She added the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
