As the result of the general cultural transformations that happened at the end of XX - beginning of XXI century, the general direction of artistic processes is changing, as well as the personal word of the artist, which is most fully represented in the diary entries. Systematizing the texts of contemporary artists by the method of objectification allows distinguishing three types of diary narration: classical, virtual and mixed. The emphasis is on the functional differences, which are based on the shift of the composition and style and ontological structure of the genre.