Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising 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 said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage 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 disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
