Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She said the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
