Artist - one lacking pulse (3)
I believe the answer is:
dal
'pulse' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist one lacking' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'dali' (Salvador Dali).
'one lacking' means to remove the last letter (the word is incomplete or lacking).
'dali' with its last letter taken away is 'DAL'.
(Other definitions for dal that I've seen before include "Pigeon pea" , "Indian pulse puree" , "Indian dish of pulses" .)