Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
