Costa Vavagiakis has exhibited extensively in galleries and museums throughout the United States such as The National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.; Hirschl & Adler Galleries, ACA Galleries and Salander-O'Reilly Galleries in NY; Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco and The Frye Art Museum, Seattle.
His work is held in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States including the Museum of the City of New York, the New-York Historical Society and the Arkansas Art Center. He has been the recipient of many distinguished awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Gregory Millard Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Costa Vavagiakis is featured in publications such as Portrait Painting Atelier; Curve: The Female Nude Now, and in articles in Drawing Magazine, American Artist, American Artist Drawing and The Artist’s Magazine, among others.
He has taught at the National Academy of Design School, the New York Academy of Art, 92nd street Y and Brooklyn College. He is currently on the faculty at the Yale School of Drama, the Gage Academy and at the Art Students' League of New York, where he has taught for over two decades.