"Starving Artist"

By STEVE GIBBS
Free Press Staff Writer

KEY LARGO - Brandon Lee Messex, a 30-year-old ex-Marine, calls himself a "starving artist."
The sweat rolls down his tattooed torso, sculpted in muscle like one of his creations come
alive. Rings pierce his ears and tongue. "USMC" is emblazoned on his chest."I spent 10 years in the Marines and all the while there was an artist trying to get out," Messex says.

The military haircut is gone. Today, he is carving a large piece of wild tamarind wood
with a short-arm chain saw. Nearby his apprentice, 19-year-old Curtis King, deftly moves an
angle grinder over a piece of Cuban mahogany that has become a billfish about to devour a dolphin. "It's all sculpted out of one piece of wood," Messex explains.

Sawdust flies as the men work in the heat of the day, surrounded by a variety of three- to seven-
foot sculptures of fish, birds, bears and other animals. A mahogany biplane is displayed with the animals. Perhaps the most striking piece in Messex's outdoor menagerie is a five-foot dinosaur, a Jurassic Park raptor with a toothy grin. The sculpture is carved from a Y - shaped piece of wood, with one branch the head and the other the tail. The animal catches the eye of passing motorists driving south on the Overseas Highway."We just sold the dinosaur to a man who is going to put it in his garden," Messex says. "He said he has some prehistoric palm trees." After some prodding Messex says it sold for $1,000.

The Indiana native spent the last few years sculpting western U.S. wood like yellow pine and birch in the Lake Tahoe area. Local trees provide a challenge. "There are over 400 variety of hardwood here in Florida," he says "The mahogany and other hardwood in the Keys are tough on our tools, and even harder on the blades. It takes twice as long to carve." When asked where his sculpting ideas originate, he points to the shapes of stumps and branches around him. "They say the wood talks to you and almost tells you what it wants to be. That's the spirit of the wood," he says.

King, a Coral Shores High School student last year, grinds away on his project. The raptor was his idea. Messex refers to the prehistoric beast as "Curtis' first vision." "I was on my way to Fort Lauderdale when I saw Brandon carving, and I had to stop and ask about it," he says. Before he knew it he was sculpting. Messex says King has the creative talent it takes to succeed in this offbeat form of art, so he hired him right away. Messex has named his company "Chainsaw Rage." Inside his business card, it says, "This is what all the noise is about."

His location at mile marker 101 on the bayside is in front of a plant nursery. Messex says they bring in about 50 cars a day. "We ship our sculptures all over," he says. "Our customers
are from Canada to Cuba." Messex says he even takes his business on the road to people's
homes. "People have big trees in their yards that die from lightning and such. The customer may have grown up with the tree and doesn't want to turn it into sawdust," he says. "They fly us to their homes where we turn the tree into a work of art that they can keep and enjoy."

Messex says the piles of large logs - gumbo limbo, tamarind and mahogany - that ring his work area are brought by contractors and landscapers who save money by giving them away rather than running them through chippers or hauling them to the dump. It takes about a day to create a
mermaid, fish, bear or raptor, Messex says. He does not like to use anything but a clear coat or
sealer to finish his art. "I don't like to obscure the natural look of the wood," he says.

One of his favorites was a three - and - a-half foot bullfrog with a foot-and-a-half long tongue with a bug on the end, he says. Meanwhile, King finishes off the intricate billfish with great care. The more exact the finish the more expensive the piece. Many of their sculptures are quite expensive, but Messex says they can custom-make anything and the price is negotiable.

"You come here with an idea and we'll work with you," Messex says. "We'll create something for you and if you don't like it we'll take it back. We have no trouble selling it for more tomorrow. That gives the artist a chance to get his art out to the world, plus it helps recycle." "Starving artists" sound very much like good businessmen.