Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.