The painter Kostas Loustas was born in Athens in 1933 but grew up in Florina. He passed away in Thessaloniki in 2014.
He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Yannis Moralis (1953–1958).
He exhibited his work for the first time in Florina in 1957. His first solo exhibition in Thessaloniki was held at the YMCA (X.A.N.) in 1961, organized by the poet Giorgos Vafopoulos.
From 1963, he lived and worked in New York City. He participated in group exhibitions (Di Salvo Art Gallery, Chase Gallery, Gallery Chevance, Paollilo Galleries) and held solo exhibitions both in New York (Saldinger Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, Firehouse Gallery, Nassau, Galerie Internationale) and London (Zaydler Gallery, Paul Hawkins Gallery).
The Municipality of Thessaloniki has repeatedly honored his long-standing artistic presence with a series of solo exhibitions, including ‘Loustas–30 Years,’ ’80+1 Portraits of Personalities of Thessaloniki,’ ‘Elgar ’96,’ ‘Variations 2000,’ and ‘Amelia 2004’. Following his death, the Corfu Art Gallery, the Benaki Museum (N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery), MoMus–Museum of Contemporary Art (Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art), and the Teloglion Foundation (2019) organized retrospective exhibitions in his honor.
With a continuous and prolific output spanning six decades, his group exhibitions in Greece and abroad were numerous, and he participated in every Panhellenic Exhibition.
Alongside painting, he was involved in literature, poetry, and journalism.
In 1977, he was honored by the Society of Greek Writers for his contribution to arts and letters.
He was one of the three founding members of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Florina, a long-serving member of the ‘Dimitria’ festival art committee, and a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece. Until 2008, he served as a member of the Board of Directors of the State Museum of Contemporary Art.