Matthew Whelan who has changed his name to "The King of Inkland" and is regarded as Britain's most tattooed man has spent £6,000 to take some tattoos off his body because he wants to start all over again to tattoo himself but has run out of space (Like his body is filled with tattoo already! Chineke!!)
34-year-old Matthew Whelan who had his first tattoo (a British bulldog) at age 16 has spent £30,000 on tattoos. The former wrestler who is from Birmingham believes he looks out of date with his whole body filled with arts of snakes, scorpions, eyeballs and vampires. He also has one of his eyeballs tattooed black!
This would be a painful process of laser removal but Mr. Whelan does not mind the pain but rather sees it as worthwhile as his collection is out of date and needs refreshing.
"I think of myself like an art gallery. After a while the art gets old and people want to see something new and that's how I feel about my tattoos," he said.
"I've had enough of them and I've run out of skin to tattoo on so I thought why not get them lasered off and just start again".Mr Whelan has spent £6,000 getting £500 worth of tattoos removed on his hand, arm and shin but he still has £30,000 worth of tattoos on the rest of his body.
Over the past two months he has undergone six sessions to have old tattoos removed- a procedure which is painful and lengthy.
He said: 'I can finally see the skin underneath and the laser process is a gruelling one. My skin is currently blistered- but that's good because it means it is healing."
'Some of my friends think I'm bonkers, and it might seem odd to some people but to me I am a living canvas,' he said.
'I can't wait for the day to put new artwork in their place. It would be tomorrow if I had my way however I have to wait until the treatment to see when it completely heals.'
Mr Whelan says body modification is a culture, a way of life and almost a religion. But he also is a political animal, having regularlary volunteered at the office of Liberal Democrat MP John Hemmings in Yardley, in Birmingham.
He says he has wanted tattoos since the age of nine after seeing his father's and his uncle's. Snakes, scorpions, eyeballs and vampires are among the illustrations he has chosen has one of his eyeballs tattooed black. 'When I die I want to leave my body to a museum or a member of my family,' he last year. 'There's someone in Canada who has already asked if he can have my skull to use as a paint pot.'
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