Pipsqueak Was Here!!!

Pipsqueak was here!!! are as much alchemists as artists, creating gold from the debris of capitalism and consumption.

The Amsterdam-based duo is synonymous with its Pipsqueak Girl, the shapeshifting character emblazoned across surfaces from canvas to concrete to scrap wood salvaged from discarded shipping pallets. Each time, the Pipsqueak Girl is reconstituted anew from the myriad elements that make up the Pipsqueak was here!!! aesthetic — the snapshots, ephemera, comic book cutouts and internet graphics from which their signature stencils are created. 

“Whenever we find an image that triggers an idea that demands for us an artistic explanation, or a certain expression of a narrative that we want to tell, then we manipulate that image until we like it, draw it by hand and turn it into a stencil,” Pipsqueak was here!!! explain. “We have a sympathy for really strong graphical imagery that is easy to catch in one layered stencil, so it can be used in different setups or colors. We use stencils like words in a language and have built a huge collection of them over the years. Like in a sentence, these ‘words’ can be used in all kinds of different contexts, and therefore they hardly ever grow stale on us. The stencils become symbols allowing us to spin our tales.”

Pipsqueak was here!!! prefer to keep the details about their professional and personal relationship under wraps. The duo’s earliest documented efforts, credited to the alias Plusminus Produkties, date to 2001; their subsequent output includes exhibitions in their native Netherlands and Paris, as well as mural projects across Europe and the U.S.

Pipsqueak was here!!! made their U.S. solo exhibition debut at Vertical Gallery with 2018’s ‘Caution Children at Play,’ followed two years later by another sold-out showcase, ‘It’s All Wrong, It’s Allright…’ Pipsqueak was here!!! are also a mainstay of Vertical’s springtime anniversary group shows, appearing in our 2023, 2024 and 2026 installments.