It’s the task of artists—be they playwrights, painters, poets or filmmakers—to crack open the enduring and complex questions of humanity and expose them to the light of day. When viewing an exhibition of watercolor landscapes, watching a play by David Mamet or taking in the latest Hollywood blockbuster, it can be easy to lose sight of art’s loftier concerns. Not so with the work of Carlos Estevez, a Cuban-born artist whose work in painting, sculpture, installation and assemblage confronts a stunning range of big questions, from the source of knowledge to the predetermination of destiny. Big ideas, Estevez’s work seems to suggest, deserve big art. “His art is a laboratory of sorts, an observation platform,” writes University at Buffalo Professor Jorge J. E. Gracia, who curated an exhibition of the artist’s work that opens in the UB Art Gallery (UB North Campus, Amherst) on Thursday. “The mind behind the work is as fascinated with new discoveries as that of Renaissance and Enlightenment scientists and explorers. This quality accounts in part for the philosophical character of Estevez’s creations. Every piece has a philosophical twist, poses a conceptual puzzle, presents a controversial view, reveals an existential predicament, or uncovers an intuition about humans and their predicaments,” Gracia continued. The show, which runs through Feb. 13, accompanies the publication of a book on Estevez and his art by Gracia. Next Friday, Gracia will host a symposium on the exhibition featuring presentations from Holly Bock, executive director of the Bronx Museum of Arts, and cultural historian Charles Burroughs of Case Western Reserve University, from 3 to 5 p. m. in 120 Clemens Hall on the UB North Campus. For more information, call 645-6913 or visit

www.ubartgalleries.org

. —Colin Dabkowski