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=> Re: ASHUR

Re: ASHUR
Posted by pancho (Guest) - Monday, December 26 2005, 20:44:40 (CET)
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Maggie wrote:
>I am willing to take the heat, as I always do!

...sure. You've had the privilege of seeing the piece!!!

...I'm dying to brag about how I resolved the most vexing problem of all...after all, we've found no three dimensional depiction of the Ashur yet...doesn't mean it never existed...we just haven't dug one up yet. What we have is one wall painting and another bas relief...

You can't translate every drawing into a sculpture in the round. Just as you can't make any sculpture into a bas relief without altering the design to accomodate the changed perspective.

The figure of Ashur is easy enough to make into a three dimensional sculpture...the only change I made was to show a little leg...those great gams our ancestors had...for stomping Hebrews and anyone else and for holding up an empire. So I put a slit in the feathered skirt...sue me.

In the two previous versions I wasn't satisfied with the aura. In the traditional depictions the figure is obviously floating in the air...and the aura ends at either end of the skirt...it does not not make a complete arc below his feet.

To sculpt it like this means you have to have his skirt, or leg, touching the base...he has to stand on something...and that ruined the effect of floating in the air, which a god should do. He's too mortal if he walks the earth.

In the previous versions I had the aura behind him...coming together at the back of his skirt...only trouble was since this is now three dimensional and can be viewed from all angles...from the profile he wasn't standing IN the aura...rather it was at his back...so that ruined the effect of having him enveloped in it.

Then it struck me...I was re reading a grair art critique when it came to me...change the aura so that it comes all the way down UNDER his feet...that way he can be IN it...and even better...he can FLOAT in the air...his feet not touching anything...and can be held in place on the base by two of the flames which radiate out from the circumference and can be bolted to the granite base.

An added advantage is that the aura can disappear INTO the wings...above and below the wings which increases the effect of floating IN the aura..as he should be...and leaves his feet off the ground. To emphasize the effect I tilted his extended foot down...to show him bracing himself to draw his celestial bow on nothing more than air...which a god should be able to do..if he or she wants to.

The only remaining problem with this design was how to show the rays that are INSIDE the aura...radiating out like spokes on a wheel. The flames shooting OFF the circumference didn't require any change...besides using two of the bottom ones to anchor the sculpture...but how to make the inside rays...

The traditional depictions show the rays touching, or seeming to touch, his body. That would be decidedly awkward in a sculpture in the round...I wouldn't want to have rays literally coming out his nose...or out his forearm. I'm confident I handled it the way the original Asyrian sculptors did or would have...I'm Assyrian after all...I made the rays touch ONLY the inside rim of the aura...they don't touch his body at any point...and the effect is perfect I think...if you consider an aura made of light...which comes from heat...you wouldn't SEE distinct rays at the very core of the hotspot....which in this case is the body of Ashur...so the gap between his body and where the rays actually start...indicates extreme heat right up next to him...with the rays forming only after they cool down as they travel out from his hot bod.

Okay, so maybe I'm rationalizing...but so did everyone else back then when forced to...point is it didn't ruin anything and made it possible to improve the design vastly...if you're going to insist on making it three dimensional.

One last thing...there's no arrow...there never is...or hardly ever. Even in hunting scenes there's no arrow notched and ready to let fly, even though the bow is always shown fully drawn...had the bow been released, the bowstring and bow would never be as taut as they're shown. In hunt scenes where animals are seen, you can tell they've been hit by arrows...even though there isn't another one cocked and ready to go...and even though the bow is shown in full arc...so where's the arrow?

I don't know. I'm not a genius...just very pretty.

It's argued that this symbol of Ashur shows how violent and warlike he and his people were...sure thing...just as Bush's pious cant shows how peace loving America is...go tell it to your aunt Tillie.

The Chaldeans...meaning us...call this sculpture Shimish..or Shamash...the sun god. The Egyptians also show a solar deity as a disc with rays coming out all along the circumference and interestingly enough, the rays have tips like arrows. The sun isn't shooting arrows at Bush...those are sun's rays which give life to earth...and there can be no life on earth if you don't also have the means to protect what you have built and grown and sown in your fields if you don't also have the means of warding off the United States...hence the sun's rays as arrows serve a double function...they provide life and also the force to DEFEND it from the United States and other Christian warmongers.

Ashur's bow is fully drawn..just aching to shoot something...only there too there's no arrow. And I'm not going to put one there to satisfy anyone...go buy a G.I. Joe doll if you like little weapons. I prefer to leave this part of it as the ancients did...because Ashur...the sun god Shimish and Shamish in his other incarnations, is sending the blessings of the sun down to warm Assyria...there's no need to show a sun's rays and there's no need to make an arrow...just as the Lamasu never threatened anyone by scowling..or crossing its eyes as the American shorn eagle does...the Lamasu SMILES at all comers...if you're smart enough...you'll figure out how to behave. If not, there's an enormous foot waiting to crush you...but regardless of how base and lowdown YOU are...Ashur will always greet you with a smile...and warmth. The rest is up to you. It's yahwe who smites the shit out of everybody, including his own son.

If this doesn't suit you, if you don't know how to behave when given consideration and the benefit of the doubt, you can turn Christian and cringe on your knees for the rest of your life...when not killing someone's children...or paying someone else to do it.



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The full topic:
  • ASHUR pancho - Monday, December 26 2005, 16:57:03 (CET)



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