Self Portrait InLimited edition print Paper Print 
by Ryan Louder

Signal Rating: 8/10 — 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: phantom figures; unstable identities; boundary dissolution — face dematerialises into white ground; self-luminous forms; 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 male face — bearded, middle-aged — occupies the centre of a warm grey paper ground, rendered in ochre, terracotta, and muted blue-violet marks that build the face without filling it in completely. The upper right of the skull trails into a sketchy white or cream outline against the grey, and significant areas of bare ground show through, especially around the temples and forehead. The eyes carry a directness that contrasts with the incompleteness of the surrounding structure. The lower face — moustache, mouth set in a neutral expression — is more resolved than the upper. The whole sits in a shallow oval of built-up marks, surrounded by the calm exposed ground of the paper itself.

Materials used:

Oil on paper

Details:

• Oil painting on Paper
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 22.86 x 30.48 x 0.25cm (unframed)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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