Holding Hands On A Winters Day (2020) Original Oil Painting by Ryan Louder

Signal Rating: 7/10 — Significant
Classification: Dissociative

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 dissociative imagery — boundary dissolution, figure-ground collapse, and spatial incoherence consistent with REM intrusion.

Neuroaesthetic markers identified: the taller figure (adult) has a featureless face — a blank smooth ovoid with no eyes, nose, or mouth; not stylised but specifically absent; the child beside them has a face but is pulled forward by the connection; the hot pink gloved hand is the only saturated element in the painting — a single hyper-vivid detail against muted tones, consistent with REM intrusion selective attention; the erasure of the adult face is a dissociative marker — the experience of perceiving a familiar person without being able to read their face, a characteristic sleep paralysis and hypnagogic phenomenon

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.

Materials used:

Oil paint on foamex creative panel

Details:

• Oil painting on Panel / Board / MDF
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 91.44 x 116.84 x 1.27cm (unframed)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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• The Artist Ambassador collection