RE: "The sea urchin" Helmut Plümacher, oil on canvas, 40cm x 50cm, painting
Is that a dung beetle? This is an interesting use of that imagery. I don't know if this is what you were going for, but based on your comments I could see it as the scarab for of ancient Egypt, a representation of tranformation. They believed it repriduced from the dung ball, which in this case appears to be a brain. A symbol of mental transformation? And yet the ball is rolling towars s an abyss.
I'm not sure about the sea urchin. I know it was a favorite of Dali, both as a delicacy and a metaphor. He linked it to the effort required to master painting, and maybe that makes sense with the mantis.
I don't know, maybe I'm full of it :-) I'm also not sure about the identity of the bascillica in the background. It kind of looks like St Paul's in London to me, but I am not expert on sacred architecture.
Thank you for the detailed contemplation. You are really on the right path. The bascillica may be St Paul´s or so many others it´s the repeticion of the form wat has inspired me