Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
