Artists Magazine asked, “If you could’ve witnessed the creation of one artwork, what would it be?” Twelve artists answered, including Costa Vavagiakis. One of the reasons The Art of Painting intrigues me is that it’s one of the few Vermeers I haven’t seen in person. We on the East Coast have the opportunity to see … Read More
PORTRAIT PAINTING Monday–Friday, July 29–Aug. 2, 2019 | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM | $920 This all-day all-week workshop is designed to help the student learn the finer points of this time-honored art form. All the stages of the portrait painting process will be examined from the under-painting to the completed portrait. Students will develop a … Read More
Back when we were kids we sketched well, but we didn’t take drawings that far. Over the last thirty years, because of the blossoming of the French academic ateliers that focus on rendering, it has reversed. Today, I find a lot of students who do finished drawings well, but don’t sketch well. I discovered a … Read More
When Robert Bunkin & Jenny Tango asked me to participate in the Parent Portraits exhibition, I took up the task of digging up some old portfolios. What I found were many sketches I did of my mother between 1974 and 1978, the last years I was living in my parents’ house. Three of these sketches … Read More
The Student Concours: Tradition in Atelier Education Each year from January to May, work of Art Students League of New York students is exhibited in the Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery. The “Student Concours” exhibit showcases the work of all the school’s students in every discipline (painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media). Each week the exhibit … Read More
Self-portraits raise the question of our own existence. As the artist catches the viewer’s eye, he/she can vicariously experience being the artist. This eye-to-eye contact is the purest, most direct connectedness with another human we can have in art. The artist’s eyes are directed outwardly, seeking to be seen and directly seeking you out as … Read More
I juried the Art League’s March Open Exhibit 2019, which is on view in their Alexandria, Viriginia, gallery through April 7. For Best in Show I selected a painting by Jeff Lodge, Sunset Trawler, and also awarded Honorable Mentions to eleven of the one-hundred exhibiting artists. Haven Ashley interviewed me about the process of jurying. That … Read More
Artists Magazine asked, “What artist unfairly gets a bad rap?” Five artists answered, including Costa Vavagiakis.
Artists Magazine asked, “What is the most beautiful book about art that you own?” Six artists answered, including Costa Vavagiakis.
In my drawings done in graphite on white paper, the nude figures are set against a white wall bathed in light emanating from above. The white paper that represents the wall might inhabit at least half of the dimension of the overall format. This draws the viewer’s gaze to the white of the paper, which … Read More