Jean Francois paints anything - portraits of celebrities, landmarks, cityscapes, still lifes, reproductions of old masters and planetary landscapes. He creates these on ten foot canvases in minutes using his hands, feet, body or anything else that happens to be available. Jean Francois' improvisations are legendary - the only things he avoids are brushes. His theatrical presentations use painted optical effects with mechanical illusions and special effects designed for each performance.

Born in Namur, Belgium, Jean Francois Detaille discovered his passion for art at an early age. Painting was his father's hobby, and on vacations with his parents in Spain and the South of France Jean Francois would watch the local artists create on-the-spot portraits for tourists. In 1975, after a chance meeting in Figueras, Spain with the flamboyant artist Salvador Dali, Jean Francois realized that the quiet life of the studio artist was not for him.

In 1976 he enrolled in the Academy of Beaux Art in Belgium - best known as the school of painters Jan van Eyck, Brueghel, Rubens...