Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
