Dried fruit artist is popular (6)
I believe the answer is:
raisin
'dried fruit' is the definition.
(I know that raisin is a type of dried fruit)
'artist is popular' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'ra'+'is'+'in'='RAISIN'
(Other definitions for raisin that I've seen before include "Dried red grape" , "A dried grape used in cake" , "Fruit for the Christmas cake" , "Large dried grape" , "An iris (anag)" .)