The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 5 plus 4 letter word YOKO OYES (YOKO ONO)
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
Y
O
K
O
O
Y
E
S
(
Y
O
K
O
O
N
O
)
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Artist" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case artist = yoko oyes (yoko ono).The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.