Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She said the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
