By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

The next Robert Rauschenberg may be working on city property with spray paints. Port Arthur City Councilman John Beard hopes to channel costly vandalism into works of culture and history that residents can admire with pride.

Beard called a press conference at Port Arthur City Hall on Tuesday to discuss graffiti in town. Attendees saw images of Museum of Cultural Arts Houston mosaics that involved young vandals who turned their energy into making art reflecting African-American history.

While Beard referred to those who would spray paint gang signs on buildings and road signs as artists, Reginald Adams, executive director of the Museum, referred to them as vandals, but ones who could benefit from arts projects.

Beard said he is working to organize a similar project in Port Arthur. He said he got the idea from visiting other cities, such as Atlanta, with youth art projects. Young people currently expressing themselves with paint on other people’s property could be transformed into artists in the ilk of Rauschenberg, the recently deceased former Port Arthur resident whose art pieces sold for millions, Beard said.

The Commemorative Marker Initiative could include a “Welcome to the West Side” work at Terminal Road and Gulfway Drive, and a mural on the old West Side Auditorium, which featured noted singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Beard said.

Beard’s conference included a demonstration by Dr. Victor H. Cholera, president of Lotus Chemicals. He is developing Lotus Nografiti 264, a chemical barrier for signs and walls that allows for easy removal of spray paint, markers, nail polish, etc. Cholera demonstrated the product on the back of a typical road sign in council chambers.

Beard said the city is considering the product to help combat graffiti. The chemical sells for about $200 a gallon. A square foot of coating would cost about 10 cents to 20 cents, Cholera said.

Beard said this cost is much cheaper than the man hours and supplied used to keep cleaning up graffiti that reappears as soon as it is painted over. It is also cheaper than incarceration for these “artists,” he said.

For information on the program, call Bard at 626-1179.

Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.