Happy Pride! Happy summer, officially! Happy National Catfish Day on Saturday! Much to celebrate this weekend; plan accoridngly with help from our esteemed critics.
Slaughter by the Water
Though local black metal outfit Ludicra is sadly no longer on the bill, Slaughter by the Water should be the Bay Area’s metal event of the year. Organized by Nicholas Gomez of Zombie Holocaust and Brian Montague, the festival aims to rectify the region’s unfortunate absence of big metal shows, despite its abundance of metal bands. Now in its second year, the event has branched out beyond the thrash genre to include a bigger and more diverse lineup, including NuclearAssault, Autopsy, CattleDecapitation, Whiplash, Zombie Holocaust, Warbringer, Undivided, Vindicator, Dread, Hatchet, Insanity, Exmortus, and Witchaven. There will also be a “heavy metal expo” featuring vendors likely to appeal to the crowd (skateboarding companies, record labels, clothes, etc.) and the heavy metal food truck, Grill ‘Em All. Should be a sausage fest. At the Craneway Pavilion (1414 Harbour Way South, Richmond) on Saturday, June 25. 2 p.m., $32, $35. SlaughterbytheWater.com. — Kathleen Richards
Eos
Benicia Gantner‘s semi-abstract collages are as beautifully ambiguous and richly ambivalent as her title, Eos, Greek for “dawn,” (remember the proto-horse Eohippus?), which invokes both past and future. While her material may be computer-cut vinyl, her designs come from drawing; her intricate floral assemblages, also suggestive of fireworks, derive their simplified shapes, flat backgrounds, and overall patterning from Kandinsky/Pollock modernist abstraction — but also, perhaps, from quilting and embroidery. (Jean Lipman made that heretical point about Formalism and craftwork in her 1975 book Provocative Parallels.) “Unfolding Florescence,” “Mariner,” “Memorial,” Nebullita,” and “Vis Viva” (i.e., life force), each a virtuoso improvisation without prior design, proffer clearly artificial, metaphorical visions of nature while simultaneously commenting on its historical depiction in arts and crafts work. Catalog available.Eos runs through July 9 at Traywick Contemporary (895 Colusa Ave., Berkeley). 510-527-1214 or Traywick.com. — DeWitt Cheng
