Weighing Up DecisionLimited edition print Paper Print 
by Ryan Louder

Signal Rating: 8/10 — 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: Multiple hands visible — two clearly drawn hands plus at least two ghosted echo-hands below; multiplication of body parts is a canonical hypnagogic hallucination marker (extra limbs, doubled appendages); pink-electric energy traces around the scalp and between the figure and ground suggest REM intrusion aura; figure is rendered in layered graphite with passages of translucency, as if the body is partially dematerialising; upward gaze toward an undefined space above the frame implies awareness of something outside ordinary perceptual bounds

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 figure in three-quarter profile faces left, rendered in layered graphite and wash with passages of deep brown-mauve. The face is in profile, eyes closed or downcast, expression contained. At the left edge, two distinct hands are raised, palms facing outward; below them two further hand forms appear as ghosted echoes, lighter and less resolved, occupying the same spatial plane. The multiplication produces four hand presences where anatomy allows two. Around the scalp, a wash of pink-magenta traces an arc distinct from the figure's own tone, suggesting an aura. The figure's body below the waist is absent, the composition ending at mid-torso.

Materials used:

Crayon and ink

Details:

• Pastel drawing on Paper
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 30 x 40 x 0.3cm (unframed)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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