Originally conceived as a 50 page photocopied magazine, Faesthetic Magazine is now a uber-high-quality 200 page annual that showcases the best art from established as well as up and coming artists from the world over. Faesthetic recently released its 5th anniverary issue, which features the top-notch black&white art, photography, graffiti, and design that the magazine has become known for.

The issue is limited to 1000 copies and less than 200 remain. This will sell out so order yours now. Once you’ve done that, read SpaceCadetz’ short interview with the man behind Faesthetic, Dustin Hostetler. Dustin, who currently has a solo exhibition going on at KidRobot NYC, took a few minutes to talk with SpaceCadetz about the mag’s history, it’s future, and how all you MySpace artists can possibly get your work into Faesthetic’s next issue.

How’s it going, Dustin? You are a man of so many talents that I couldn’t possibly do you any justice with an intro. Why don’t you take a second to brief the SpaceCadetz readers on who you are and what it is you do.

Thanks Scott… to boil it down, I do illustrations/graphic art for a living (upso.org), I sing in a band called stylex (myspace.com/stylex) and help run a new record label called Pretend Records (myspace.com/pretendrecords) and then I publish Faesthetic in the little free time i have left.

So what’s the concept behind Faesthetic Magazine and the story behind the name?

Faesthetic is an art annual that focuses on emerging talent, as well as featuring work by a lot of big names that are nice enough to get involved. The name Faesthetic means the Fast Aesthetic. I’m trying to document/chronicle some of what I think is the best work from each year, and in our over stimulated world, the Faesthetic ideal is a bunch of different people and styles working together and sort of exploding in front of your eyes.

How did you decide to start Faesthetic and what was that initial process like?

The first issue was done on a xerox. Putting it together, I just sent out emails to people I admired and asked them to get involved. It was tough to convince them, but a lot of people hooked me up with great art. From there it was time spent in the xerox room at work when no one was looking. I sold it online with a little website and paypal link and it sold out super fast.

Congrats on the 5 year anniversary issue. What does this issue mean to you, personally?

Thanks a lot! To me, its just great that this little xerox zine has turned into something sold in stores around the world. I never expected it to be more than a zine, and now it looks more like a book. im really excited to see where the next 5 years take me.

To go along with the anniversary issue, you did a few collaborations that include two tshirts, a postcard, and a button. How did those come about and how do they tie in conceptually with the mag?

Since the whole magazine is about people submiting their different styles into one format, I really enjoyed working the Stayneedy and Lmac on the shirts they made for me. It was cool to see them interpret the 5th anniversary onto clothes. Same with the button andy mueller (ohiogirl.com) hooked me up with. It was an honor to have him put the “think faest” idea onto a button. The postcards Karen Ingram (krening.com) gave to the magazine also turned out great, and I really appreciate all the effort everyone put into the project.

The artist roster is simply nuts. There are a lot of very talented emerging artists/photographers on MySpace as well. How can they try to get in on the Faesthetic action for issue #6?

Even though I seek out a lot of the work for the magazine, im ALWAYS open to people submitting their portfolios for my consideration. I get a lot of myspace messages from artists and for example in this past issue I have a good handfull that i never would have connected with had it not been for MySpace.

Let’s switch the subject real quick and talk about you for a second. You’re clearly a very creative person. What are your inspirations?

Thanks dude. I think im really motivated by all of the people out there making new work. There are SO many creative people out there, and with the internet its really easy to keep up with everyone. Doing so really pushes me to keep my own work fresh, because i realize if i dont… someone else is going to step up.

You run a design studio with your wife called Sans Nom, where you two work with some pretty big name companies. What is that process like and what is your approach to helping these companies achieve their goals?

I think a lot of businesses come to us because we offer a unique outlook on art and design. So we just try and understand what people are looking for and give it our own twist.

So what does the future hold for Faesthetic Magazine and Dustin Hostetler?

Yikes.. I think for Faesthetic we/im just going to plug along. Its always going to be black and white, and its always going to feature a lot of crazy art you arent going to find anywhere else.. but beyond that only time and the artists involved can tell. Hopefully companies will start running ads, which will afford me better printing and more pages. As for me, I’m just working on getting my art out into more galleries (I just had my first solo show in NYC at kidrobot) and im going to continue working with my wife on whatever design projects I can. It’s really rewarding to be able to work on such interesting stuff, and I really hope I can continue to be blessed with such opportunities.

Word. Any shoutouts?

Big ups to the drama magazine, beautiful decay magazine, art prostitute magazine, clamor magazine, re:up magazine, smile maker, kidrobot and ohio.

Faesthetic Magazine’s MySpace Profile Link

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