Club the Gnome / Club the Big Gnome — Launch Flyer
Mark Wigan · Maximus · Tuesdays · starts 16 November 1993
16 November 1993 (launch/start date printed on flyer) · ★ Gold Star object
Original-period double-sided launch flyer for a recurring Tuesday club night at Maximus in London, beginning 16 November 1993 and explicitly promoted by Mark Wigan. The flyer alternates between the names “Club the Big Gnome” and “Club the Gnome” and uses bold orange/black and blue/red graphic treatments.
Read the catalogue note →- Event
- Club the Gnome / Club the Big Gnome — launch/start of Tuesday residency
- Promoter
- Mark Wigan — the reverse explicitly states “MARK WIGAN INVITES YOU TO CLUB THE GNOME”.
- Venue
- Maximus
- Location
- Physical flyer prints only “W1”. External sources place Maximus at 14 Leicester Square, London WC2; this discrepancy is retained rather than silently normalised.
- Advertised hours
- Tuesdays, 10pm–3.30am.
- Original admission / price
- £5 on the printed reverse.
- Format
- Double-sided club flyer / handbill
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Original / reproduction
- Appears to be an original period 1993 flyer; no evidence of later reproduction is visible, but no printer or provenance documentation was supplied.
- Edition / variant
- Launch/start-date flyer — “STARTS NOV.16TH 93”
- Condition
- Good to Very Good ephemera condition — complete and fully legible, with light edge/corner wear, handling marks and apparent aged tape remnants on the reverse.
- Completeness
- Single double-sided flyer complete as supplied; both printed sides are present and legible.
- Absolute rarity
- Not quantified. Surviving-copy counts for this disposable club ephemera are unknown and no print run is published.
- Acquisition rarity
- Not assessed.
- Event relationship
- Club the Gnome / Club the Big Gnome — Launch Flyer — launch · 1993-11-16
- Venue relationship
- Browse Maximus objects
Catalogue note
Original-period double-sided launch flyer for a recurring Tuesday club night at Maximus in London, beginning 16 November 1993 and explicitly promoted by Mark Wigan. The flyer alternates between the names “Club the Big Gnome” and “Club the Gnome” and uses bold orange/black and blue/red graphic treatments. Its surviving physical wear and apparent tape remnants reinforce its value as used nightlife ephemera rather than detached retrospective design material.
Advertised programme: No individual performer bill established from the photographed flyer.
Graphic-design significance: Strong vernacular club-graphic interest: oversized stamped/boxed typography, stark spot colours, collage/stencil imagery, irregular type placement and deliberately rough low-cost ephemera aesthetics. Mark Wigan is the named promoter/host, but authorship of this exact design is not explicitly credited on the object.
Historical context: The flyer announces a Tuesday night beginning 16 November 1993 at Maximus. Mark Wigan is explicitly named as inviter/promoter. Independent sources document Wigan as an artist and club promoter who co-founded The Brain and produced Love Ranch at Maximus in the early 1990s; sources also place Maximus at 14 Leicester Square. This makes the flyer a useful document of Wigan’s continued activity at the venue later in 1993.
Production note: Spot-colour appearance on light paper/card; exact printing method and stock are unverified from the supplied photographs.
Condition note: Complete and fully legible. Light edge/corner wear, handling marks and scattered surface specking are visible. Several aged adhesive-tape strips or tape remnants appear along one edge of the reverse, consistent with prior display or mounting; no major paper loss is evident in the supplied views.
Confidence / uncertainty: The flyer prints W1; existing venue research places Maximus at 14 Leicester Square, WC2. Both are retained rather than silently harmonised.
Through the flyers
Explore the club-culture timeline to follow advertised dates, places and billed performers across the held flyers.
Further sources
Event details are drawn from the held object and the qualified catalogue research above. A printed bill establishes an advertised booking, not confirmation that a performer appeared.
Why this object matters
The Mark Wigan launch flyer preserves the opening of a specific recurring London club and its graphic identity on both sides. Its named authorship, launch function and surviving use support threshold Gold; apparent tape remains evidence of handling, not proof of a particular venue display.
Evidence limits: No new physical inspection or collation was performed. Copy-specific conclusions remain limited to the retained catalogue and accession evidence.
Historical context
The flyer announces a Tuesday night beginning 16 November 1993 at Maximus. Mark Wigan is explicitly named as inviter/promoter. Independent sources document Wigan as an artist and club promoter who co-founded The Brain and produced Love Ranch at Maximus in the early 1990s; sources also place Maximus at 14 Leicester Square. This makes the flyer a useful document of Wigan’s continued activity at the venue later in 1993.
Score and assessment method
Archive Importance: 9 / 10 · Gold Star.
This is a curatorial judgement, not a measurement accurate to one tenth or a market valuation. Read the explanation and its evidence limits together.
How Archive Importance is assessed →Use this record
Cite this object
Include the date you accessed this record when citing it.
Explore further
Connections use the catalogue’s named people, organisations and themes.