Submitted photo Matthias Hornung tattoos a client on Indian Peak in the Rocky Mountains last summer.

To live an extraordinary life, one has to do extraordinary things.

That’s the philosophy Matthias Hornung tries to live by, and one of the ways he’s put it into practice is by tattooing one of his clients 11,000 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains.

“I want to be a leader in the arts, whether it’s painting, drawing or tattooing,” the Warren native and 2011 Niles McKinley High School graduate said. “I wanted to so something that’s never been done. To the best of my knowledge, I’m the first tattoo artist to do it and document it from start to finish.”

Hornung, who tattoos under the name Urban Cowboy at Tattoo Kings & Cuts in Columbus, took a crew with him and chronicled the adventure in a 5-minute video he posted to YouTube.

Tattooing actually was Hornung’s plan B. He said he considers himself “an art prodigy” as a child, and he won several regional art awards as a teen.

After taking a year off, he went to The Ohio State University to study art and, hopefully, play football for the Buckeyes, despite not playing much in high school. He tried out twice. — “I did my best. That’s ultimately all you can ask of yourself,” he said — but art, not athletics, became his chosen path, and he graduated with an art degree in 2018.

He said he believes those sports dreams helped his academic path and current career.

“Pursuing a dream to be a football player on a high collegiate level took pain and discipline, and that discipline carried on to my art,” he said. “With art, it’s very physical, long hours on canvas or a drawing board, now long hours tattooing six, seven days a week.”

But there’s a reason “starving artist” is a well-known cliche. Hornung didn’t have a car and didn’t have the money to get one, so he turned to tattooing to use his artistic talent in a way that would generate a steady income.

“Tattooing always was on the table, but I’m an artist who became a tattoo artist,” he said.

He put the same passion into studying that craft as he did his other pursuits, and he started working at Tattoo Kings & Cuts in the summer of 2020.

“Art on skin — I think the human body is just the most beautiful canvas,” he said. “It’s a privilege to tattoo my clients, to have on their bodies something that is yours for their life. It’s extraordinary when people give their trust to you to be your canvas.”

The trip last August to Colorado wasn’t his first time tattooing in the Rockies. He traveled to Colorado with a couple of college friends in 2020 and did a tattoo for one of them.

“It was more of a test run, and I took all of the precautions I took on the second trip,” Hornung said.

Last year that friend met Michael Flowers in a bar, told him the story of his tattoo and gave him Hornung’s contact information.

“He messaged me through Instagram, and I got on FaceTime with him,” Hornung said. “Do you want to get tattooed in the Rocky Mountains? ‘That’s what I was hoping for,’ he said.”

About a month of planning was involved before the trip to Colorado. Hornung had to figure out what gear he needed and what he could live without because it was a three-hour hike up Indians Peak. He had to pack everything so it would it would be as clean and sanitary as the conditions in the tattoo studio.

“I had faith and intuition preparing (for the trip) that I would be able to pull this thing off,” Hornung said. “It was a zero-failure mentality.”

Of course, there were some unplanned obstacles the day of the tattooing. The pickup truck they were taking to the drop site got a rear tire puncture. They tried to patch it with a plug, but the tire still leaked, forcing them to take extra time to change the tire and get a later start than originally planned.

The weather was warm but windy — viewers can hear the brisk winds in the YouTube video — and the clear plastic tent that Hornung brought to create a sterile environment and allow a camera to record the process also provided a buffer from the strong breezes. He was able to complete the tattoo while the sun still was shining, although they had to finish the trek down the peak in the dark.

Hornung said it was worth all the effort.

“Creating in nature is a euphoria beyond being in a studio,” he said. “Engulfed in nature and the beauty in the world around you, you go down a spiritual path.”