Father FigureLimited edition print Paper Print 
by Ryan Louder

Signal Rating: 9/10 — Strong
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: Towering figure assembled from fragmented, hieratic elements — face merges with headdress/crown in a totemic way that does not resolve into human anatomy; smaller figures embedded within and alongside the central figure suggest nested or fractured identity — a classic REM intrusion motif of multiple selves or spirits; the central figure holds a mask-face (or secondary face) against its own, creating a face-within-face structure; paint texture is damaged and encrusted, creating a sense of antiquity and unreliability; warm ochre ground functions as an undifferentiated field; the figures seem to be partially absorbed by or emerging from each other — boundary dissolution between selves; this is one of the most architecturally hallucinatory works in the corpus

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.

A tall figure dominates the canvas from crown to lower hem, assembled from overlapping brown and ochre fragments rather than continuous form. The uppermost element — a flat vessel-like head — sits atop layered shoulders that absorb two or three smaller faces within their mass. At the right stands a second simplified figure — narrower, frontal, its body in blotched white and pink — connected to but separate from the central mass. The whole composition rises from a mauve-brown ground, backlit by yellow-white atmospheric paint. Lower portions of both figures decay into white impasto and exposed ground, as if the image is being actively unmade.

Materials used:

Oil paint

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 93.98 x 193.04 x 0.25cm (unframed) / 228.6 x 228.6cm (actual image size)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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