Whirling energy presented by artist in the same expressive image (8)
I believe the answer is:
ideogram
'expressive image' is the definition.
'whirling energy presented by artist in the same' is the wordplay.
'whirling energy' becomes 'og' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'presented by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'the same' becomes 'idem' (Latin for 'the same', used in citations).
'og'+'ra'='ogra'
'ogra' inserted within 'idem' is 'IDEOGRAM'.
(Other definitions for ideogram that I've seen before include "E.g. numeral, Chinese character" , "bit of kanji?" , "Symbol indicating idea, like road sign" , "Symbolic character" , "Written character symbolising a concept or the thing itself" .)