Richard Chartier (b.1971) is a Los Angeles based artist / composer considered one of the key figures in minimalist sound art. Chartier’s works explore the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception, and the act of listening itself.
Chartier’s critically acclaimed sound works have been published since 1998 on a variety of labels internationally including Room40 (Australia), Editions Mego (Austria), Important Records (US), Ash International / Touch (UK), mAtter (Japan), Raster-Noton (Germany), Spekk (Japan), Trente Oiseaux (Germany), NVO (Austria), Farmacia901 (Italy), 12k (US), and his own imprint LINE (US).
He has collaborated with composer William Basinski, sound artists ELEH, France Jobin, Robert Curgenven, Taylor Deupree, AGF, CoH, and Yann Novak, and German electronic music pioneer Asmus Tietchens. In installation form, he has created works with multimedia artists Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, visual artist Linn Meyers, and projected light artist Anthony McCall. Under his guise Pinkcourtesyphone, an ambient project restarted in 2012, he has collaborated with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Kid Congo Powers, harpist Gwyneth Wentink, AGF, and thereminist Evelina Domnitch.
Chartier’s sound works/installations have been presented in museums and galleries internationally including the Whitney Biennial and the influential sound art exhibit Sounding Spaces at NTT/ICC in Tokyo. His performances have occurred live across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Since 2000, Chartier has curated his influential recording label LINE, publishing over 120 editions documenting the compositional and installation work of international sound and video artists who explore the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism.