Australian Teen Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
