Pinocchios Dream Of MotherLimited edition print Paper Print 
by Ryan Louder

Signal Rating: 9/10 — Strong
Classification: Hypnagogic

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 hypnagogic imagery — embedded secondary images, phantom figures, and forms emerging from within the scene.

Neuroaesthetic markers identified: phantom figures; chimeric fusion; unstable identities; pareidolic embedding; secondary image; 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.

A small figure — a child or puppet dressed in green, with thin limbs and an oddly large head — crouches at the lower centre. Above and behind, a mass of overlapping faces fills the upper three-quarters: a clown face at upper left, a broad grimacing face at upper centre-left, a large grey profile at right with closed eye and heavy jaw. These faces occupy different spatial registers, overlap without touching, and read as simultaneous presences. Red flashes appear at intervals — at the clown's mouth, at the child's wrist. The ground throughout is deep near-black; all illumination falls from within the figures themselves.

Materials used:

Acrylic paint

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 129.54 x 165.1 x 0.51cm (unframed) / 129.54 x 165.1cm (actual image size)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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