Artist in salon, drunk, is loser (4-3)
I believe the answer is:
also-ran
'is loser' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist in salon drunk' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'drunk' indicates anagramming the letters.
'salon' with letters rearranged gives 'alson'.
'ra' inserted into 'alson' is 'ALSO-RAN'.
(Other definitions for also-ran that I've seen before include "Unplaced racehorse" , "Unsuccessful competitor" , "Unplaced horse" , "Race loser" , "Not placed in the first three of horse race" .)