Les Petits Pilotes

20 handcrafted prints. Hidden across Paris. May 2026.

In the 1930s, a French illustrator drew a child's push-pedal car for a mail-order catalog. His* name is probably lost to history. But the catalog survived for over 90 years, and at some point, made its way to a Lisbon flea market.

I'm a Lisbon-based American artist. My wife gave me the catalog as a gift a few years ago, and after hotrodding his little vehicle with a blower (because that’s what you do), I have been printing this Lil’ Racer ever since. He’s become one of the recurring figures in my work.

It’s been roughly twenty years since I spent time in Paris, and for a recent trip, I made a special edition of 20 handcrafted prints. Each one is numberedsigned, with an original hand-drawn background, a piece of that old catalog, and a screen print of that Lil’ Racer. Then I brought him home.

Some will be hand-delivered. The rest… hidden throughout the city… in bookstores, cafés, flea markets, Métro stations. If you’ve found one, it's yours. The number on the back is yours too: you have piece ___ of 20. I hope he brings a smile to your face.

*Assuming it was a “him” as it WAS the 1930s.