Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
