🔗 Share this article Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork The local council stated they could not take off the eyes without damaging the artwork. A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it. Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage. In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”. Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December. The affected sculpture after the stickers were removed. A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without damaging the sculpture. “This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.” The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism. At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance. Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”. Cast in Blue is its formal title but residents nicknamed the piece the ‘Blue Blob’.