Keanu Kidnapped!

At last it can be told! In the summer of 2004, internationally known portrait artist Louis Briel met actor Keanu Reeves in Los Angeles at Le Clafoutis, a Sunset Strip restaurant, and chatted with him about doing a portrait of Mr. Reeves for his fortieth birthday in September 2004. Mr. Reeves said his schedule of filming would not allow him to sit, so Mr. Briel decided to do the painting, based on memory of their interaction, augmented by photos from the Internet and video from recent films. The painting was done, not for commercial purposes, but with the idea of making a gift of the portrait to Mr. Reeves.

After finishing the painting, a lifesized likeness on canvas, Mr. Briel contacted an acquaintance at Creative Artists Agency in August 2004 and was informed that CAA would gladly facilitate the gift and forward the portrait to Mr. Reeves. Mr. Briel delivered the painting to the Wilshire Boulevard offices of CAA on August 26, 2004. A few days later and again in November 2004, he was informed that the painting had been sent on to Mr. Reeves within a day or two of its delivery to CAA. Thereafter, he reasonably assumed that his work had been received by Mr. Reeves.

In 2006, however, Mr. Briel encountered Mr. Reeves again outside Le Clafoutis. He inquired if Mr. Reeves had received the painting. Mr. Reeves replied that he had not. Indeed, he seemed to have no knowledge of the painting whatsoever.

Once again, CAA assured Mr. Briel that the painting had been sent to Mr. Reeves. Mr. Briel decided to look into it further. His attorney sent several letters to CAA that went unanswered. Finally the attorney threatened to demand an accounting in court. Miraculously the missing portrait surfaced within days. "We have located the painting." The painting had never left CAA, except to move with them from Wilshire Boulevard to their new signature headquarters in Century City. Apparently, someone really liked it.

Mr. Briel has retrieved the painting from its kidnappers and expresses his hope to have the chance to give it to Mr. Reeves. Mr. Reeves will turn 44 on September 2.

Contact:

Louis Briel
101 West Marshall St. #32 Richmond, VA 23220
http://www.louisbriel.com
http://ipaintyou.blogspot.com
804-525-5537

About Louis Briel:

A Native Virginian, Louis Briel has achieved international recognition as an American portraitist. Schooled in the Classics, he refined his painting style while earning degrees from Hampden-Sydney College as first-honor graduate and Harvard University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. His art training includes a certificate from the American Academy in Rome and study in Boston with Ann Tabachnick and Morton Sacks.

Portraiture has always been Louis Briel’s primary focus. His style owes a debt to Renaissance portraits by Raphael, Holbein and Bronzino and to the linearity of Ingres. During the 1970s, his work became marked by flat color fields and highly silhouetted figures, reflecting influences from illustration, serigraphy, and his admiration for the paintings of David Hockney. Briel has participated in many group shows and has had four one-man exhibits, including major exhibitions at Caravan House Galleries in New York City and the Martin Agency in Richmond. His paintings of prominent families and leaders in the fields of government, business, religion, education and the arts hang in numerous private and public collections.

The Smithsonian Institution In 1993 acquired Briel’s portrait of tennis great Arthur Ashe for the National Portrait Gallery. In 1995 the U. S. House of Representatives added his portrait of Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Chairman of the Commerce Committee, to its Collection. Briel’s haunting portrait of Princess Diana accompanied Elton John on his 1997-98 World Tour and is now part of the singer’s personal collection. It is featured in the new book, “Diana in Art”, compiled by Mem Mehmet (Chaucer Press 2007). More recently, Briel has worked with Carol Burnett on a posthumous portrait of her daughter Carrie Hamilton, which hangs in the newly renamed Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse.

This release was published on openPR.