Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork

A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She added the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.