FORT WORTH -- The effects of Superstorm Sandy have rippled to Fort Worth where the Modern Art Museum has had to postpone an exhibition by a New York-based artist that was scheduled to open Sunday.
Artist Gary Simmons was unable to leave New York in time to install an artwork directly on a wall for his Director's Council Focus exhibition, museum officials said Monday.
In addition, several other pieces that Simmons intended to bring for the exhibition became inaccessible because of flooding, a museum spokeswoman said.
Museum officials and Simmons are working to arrange a new opening date.
Simmons' work appears in numerous museums, and a big wall drawing, Blue Field Explosions, was commissioned for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium collection.
In a happier New York-related development, a balloon version of a sculpture sitting on the museum's front terrace, Companion (Passing Through), by Brian Donnelly (aka KAWS) is going to appear in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
Companion is a recurring character in Donnelly's work -- as a toy, as a steel sculpture and for the parade, as a 40-foot balloon filled with 4,500 cubic feet of helium.
Macy's parade organizers have chosen works by only four other living artists to turn into balloons -- Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Tom Otterness and Tim Burton.
Donnelly says the seated character that covers his eyes is a manifestation of the worst thing he can imagine -- having to sit and have millions of people pass by and stare. It will be there through Jan. 6.
Gaile Robinson is the Star-Telegram art and design critic. 817-390-7113.
Twitter: @gailerobinson
