Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork

A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.