A well–known member of the Young British Artists (YBA) group that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lucas develops provocative themes of sexual and social identity in her artwork. In this drawing Lucas takes on death and destruction. She has arranged cigarettes on brown kraft paper to depict a skeleton on horseback carrying a sickle—the emblem of death. Many of her works feature cigarettes; Lucas has commented that for her smoking is a habit that, though self–destructive, affords her space to think: "a way of palpably 'having' time."
In the tradition of Dada, Fluxus, and Nouveaux Réalistes assemblages, Lucas plays with everyday materials to create a dramatic and aesthetic work of technical virtuosity that disconcerts the viewer with its violent medium and subject matter. This drawing is provocative at all levels, including its title. The phrase "It's not the end of the world (remember me)" could be uttered by Death, personified, facing humanity and its conceit, or by Lucas in a desperate affirmation of existence itself.

Publication excerpt from

The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights since 1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, p. 165.

Medium Cigarettes and pencil on colored paper
Dimensions 86 3/4 x 110 1/2" (220.3 x 280.7 cm)
Credit The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift
Object number 2270.2005
Department Drawings and Prints

Explore more

All works by Sarah Lucas →

From MoMA Design Store

Installation views

We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.

How we identified these works
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].
Licensing
To reproduce installation views, please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations). You will need to include the object identification number found in the caption.
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.