Artist in country, first to expose absurd pretence (7)
I believe the answer is:
charade
'absurd pretence' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist in country first to expose' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'country' becomes 'chad' (Chad is an example**).
'first to' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'expose' is 'e'.
'ra' going into 'chad' is 'charad'.
'charad'+'e'='CHARADE'
(Other definitions for charade that I've seen before include "Total pretence (as in game)" , "Blatant deception" , "Pretence - travesty" , "Absurd pretence to create a good impression" , "absurd behaviour" .)