A few days ago a press release announced the cancellation of the next edition of the BAD+ show which was to be held in Bordeaux next May due “Of an unforeseen situation temporarily affecting the team’s ability to ensure the smooth running of the event”. “The unforeseen situation” was the hospitalization of its organizer, Jean-Daniel Compain, suddenly died in Paris on the night of February 4 at the age of 74.
After studying international trade, Jean-Daniel Compain takes place a first part of career in various sectors, including advertising, boating and council. It was in 1996 that he joined Reed Exhibitions France as director general of the culture, luxury and leisure center. For 10 years, he oversees events such as the Book Fair, the Paris Nautical Fair and Fiac. It was under his mandate that Paris Photo has risen to the rank of the world’s first world fair dedicated to photography.
In 2016, after leaving Reed Exhibitions, he founded Next Opus, a company dedicated to the design and organization of cultural events. The same year, he resumed the organization of the antique biennial for its 28ᵉ edition with a mixed success.
Very attached to his hometown, he founded in 2021 Bordeaux Art + Design (BAD +), a fair aimed at positioning Bordeaux on the international scene of contemporary art. Stéphane Corréard (contributor to the Journal des Arts) recalls: “We had followed him in the beginnings of the BAD adventure in Bordeaux, convinced like him of the importance of going to seek new collectors, and the potential of attractiveness of an emblematic city of the art of living, famous worldwide. A great professional, he had immediately proposed a model intelligently thought out and implemented with finesse and diplomacy ”. In 2022, he co -founded, with Julien Frydman, Offscreen, a Parisian event dedicated to experimental image practices.
Bad+ is marked by fate. In 2022, the first artistic director of the fair, Jill Silverman Van Coenengrachts, abruptly disappeared. Last year, Marie Maertens, artistic director of the third edition, made her apron believing that the profile of the fair no longer suited her.
Endowed with an endearing personality that could sometimes be rough, it leaves the memory of a striking figure in the art market. The Republic had honored him in 2017 of the rank of knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
