Article reads as follows:

Expression of individuality colors the choices of this illustrated man

Profile:From his teeth to his nipples, Erl Van Aken is an exhibition of ink, metal and more.
By Barbara Kingsley
The Orange County Register

Erl Van Aken lost his artist's studio after his life fell apart years ago, so he seized on a canvas no one would take away from him.

His body.

The Los Alamitos artist and one-time aerospace engineer lost his job, wife and home when drugs and alcohol eclipsed everything else. When he reclaimed his life in the 1980's, Van Aken, now 60, found himself in acting and body art.

Body art?

More like shock art. On the back of his head: a face tattoo with a a real nose ring. In his mouth: gold lightning bolts on his teeth, which are filed down like fence posts. On his forearms: implanted bumps that one day will form the spikes of a tattooed dragon.

That's not all. On his stomach: a loop of skin where he secures a red antique vial that once held perfume and smelling salts. (He wants to insert light-emitting diodes so the vial will glow.)

And a dozen other piercings and tattoos that seem somehow mundane, even the large metal jewelry hanging from his pierced nipples.

Some of his tattoos, he says, are more than art; they have spiritual meaning. The sanskrit message "between man and God" is tattooed on his forehead. Van Aken, who does some of the adornment himself, tattooed out-thrusting arrows on his knee to connote "chaos." On the other is a cross, similar to the one found on the 5,000-year-old "Iceman" found in 1991 in the Austrian Alps.

A Long Beach plastic surgeon created the stomach loop; the implants were done by an Arizona-based piercer who did the work on his kitchen table.

"It's real painful," Van Aken said during a break in classes at Cypress College. But the artist must persevere. "I still have a lot of creative energy. It has to go somewhere."

Van Aken believes his body markings help him land character-acting parts. He appeared in "Blade," starring Wesley Snipes, as well as some straight-to-video movies, "Mad TV," video games and commercials. He also knows the markings deprived him of potential leading-man parts, but that's OK. "I'm my own person. I'm a committee of one."

Register staff writer Phil Garlington contributed to this report.