Prof. Onli coined the term "Rhythmism" in the early 1970s as a Future-Primitif approach to the creative arts and as a movment / genre in Visual Art to move beyond the broad term of "Black Art" as it was perculating in the Balck Art Movment of the late 1960s.

Coming of age with both the Black Cultural Revolution and the Hippie infused Counter Cultrual Movement Onli felt Black needed to create terms for the obvious distinctions in the visual arts as was done in music.