Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer 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 were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork 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 society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
