Signal Rating: 5/10 — Moderate
Classification: Hallucinatory

This painting by Ryan Louder is part of a body of work shaped by his neurological condition — Narcolepsy with REM Intrusion Hallucinations, clinically confirmed via MSLT at Guy's Hospital, London. The work contains hallucinatory imagery — geometric form constants, phosphene-like patterns, and perceptual structures consistent with REM intrusion.

Neuroaesthetic markers identified: self-luminous forms; boundary dissolution; figure-ground collapse

These markers are not deliberate artistic techniques but direct visual recordings of what REM intrusion hallucinations look like. The imagery emerges from neurological experience, not metaphor. Ryan has painted over 2,000 works, with over 1,000 originals sold. Each painting in this collection has been subjected to neuroaesthetic forensic analysis to identify and catalogue the perceptual phenomena present.

Two elephants stand in close proximity, facing each other with trunks downward and touching, the composition symmetrical and intimate. Both animals are rendered in pale grey, white, and warm rose paint against a very dark, near-black ground — their forms luminous against the void. The paint surface is worked with visible impasto marks that describe the wrinkled texture of the skin, particularly across the trunks and foreheads. The right-hand animal's eye is a focal point — dark, reflective, and rendered with some specificity. The trunks at the lower centre, intertwined or nearly so, function as the compositional and emotional axis. No ground is depicted beneath the animals' feet; they exist within the darkness.

Materials used:

oil paint

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 50.8 x 40.64 x 1.78cm (unframed)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: Animals and birds

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