Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork

A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, 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 sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She added the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.