Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She added the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
