In the 1970's aesthetic discourse abandoned the rhetoric of Formalism. The emphasis shifted from the perceptual gestalts of Formalism to the propositional logic of structural aesthetics. This proved to be both enlightening and disappointing. While freeing the artist from the erroneous assumptions of Occidental philosophy, postmodern aesthetic theories did not adequately consider the relevance of the metaphysical experience in art.

In their rejection of traditional psychological models, postmodern aesthetics relegated the development of personality to the acquisition of language with little or no regard for the central roles of propensity and ontological knowledge. Structural aesthetics acknowledged the gulf existing between convention and knowledge but failed to recognize the vital nature of cultural mythology that incorporates the two.

Art is not based on rhetoric or in the objectively perceived, or within itself as a system. Meaning in art is not grounded on intent or historical context or reductive aesthetics without first accounting for the role of the viewer as an active participant in the process. The art encounter cannot be written out of the script. Art is grounded in the encounter, and in the role the encounter plays as a civilizing force. It can be studied as a set of objects and concepts independent of the viewer, but for art to be seen as inspiring a sense of truth, whether that of aesthetic symbolism or mathematical idealism, requires an hypothesis that accounts for the ontological aspect of knowledge and defines art's role in the generation of culture. Without acknowledging art's affect on the viewer, the future of 'non-retinal' art appears bleak.

The nihilism of postmodern aesthetics has done little to revise the brittle myths and oppressive ideology that structure art into society. Nor has it inspired art with the potential to integrate the disenfranchised population. While the negation of outmoded philosophic principles opened new horizons in art, the devaluation of the art experience effectively reduced art to economic and academic priorities in a scheme that further empowers elitism and entrenches the status quo.

For the artist, the nihilism of postmodern art presents a dead end. Propositional logic cannot discover anything that is not implied by the stifling ideology that sets the parameters of the inquiry. It can deconstruct the myth and little else. The systems analysis of Structuralism provides an inadequate tool for exploring or explaining the non-rational, holistic nature of art appreciation. Art does not read like a sentence. For the rational intellect, elements of the composition are plastic signs; signifiers to be manipulated in syntactic arrangements, but in the aesthetic experience, the same elements become a symbolic whole.