🔗 Share this article Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture Authorities stated they could not take off the eyes without harming the artwork. A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it. Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone 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 explained that surveillance video showed a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”. Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December. The damaged sculpture following the googly eyes were taken off. The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece. “This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in 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.” The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism. When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design. Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”. Cast in Blue is its formal title but locals called the piece the ‘Blue Blob’.