The article investigates the interpretation of the essence of the category «Art» in modern Russian philosophy of art, aesthetics, art criticism, discusses the concepts dedicated to assessing artistic phenomena, the parameters of such an evaluation. The sources of the study are philosophical and artistic and critical articles written by critics, philosophers, researchers studying aesthetic perspective. The relevance of the investigated problems is caused by the fact that contemporary art is going through a period of transformation, with the boundaries pushing beyond traditional art history analysis. It creates the need for theoretical understanding of artistry, developing strategies for assessment of artistic creativity. One of the most significant trends in contemporary art criticism is to find an ethical guideline of creativity, intuitive attraction to the traditional for Russian philosophy striving to find the potential social impact of art in a difficult socio-political situation. Artists, philosophers, journalists raise the issue of the existence of harmony between the artist and the masses, of real social impact of the creative personality, playing a vital role in social processes.