Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending 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 public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, 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 creators influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.