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Paradox is the theme. Profiled: painter Robert Ryman, filmmakers Mark Bradford and Catherine Sullivan, and media artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla.

Ecology is the theme. Profiled: photographer Robert Adams, and sculptors Mark Dion, Ursula von Rydingsvard and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

“Protest” is the theme. Profiled: painter Nancy Spero, photographer An-My Le, media artist Alfredo Jaar and conceptual artist Jenny Holzer.

The fourth season begins with romance as the theme grouping the artists profiled here, including photographer Laurie Simmons, media artist Pierre Huyghe, and painters Judy Pfaff and Lari Pittman.

“Play” is the theme as artists Jessica Stockholder, Ellen Gallagher, Arturo Herrera and Oliver Herring are profiled. Stockholder's sharp-colored works frequently incorporate plastic objects, and Gallagher's paintings and films offer “a way of constantly looking for home.” Herrera makes collages and wall paintings from drawings and abstract photos. And Herring's work ranges from somber knitted sculptures to fanciful video works and photographic “statues” of people. The NBA's Grant Hill hosts.

“Structure” is the theme as artists Matthew Ritchie, Fred Wilson, Richard Tuttle and Roni Horn are profiled. “Modern art is a gift,” says Ritchie, whose room-sized installations are rooted in line drawing. Wilson's installations are formed by “putting things together,” not making them. Tuttle, a veteran painter-sculptor, likes to explore “the part which I can't see,” as does Horn, a sculptor-photographer. “The unknown,” she says, “is where I want to be.” Introduced by Sam Waterston.

Memory is the theme as artists Susan Rothenberg, Mike Kelley, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Josiah McElheny are profiled. McElheny, a glassblower, often puts his own spin on works of the past. Kelley looks for “materialist ritual” in his video art, paintings and sculptures. Sugimoto calls his photographs “fossilizations of the time.” And Rothenberg, a Southwestern painter, says “I don't want to get too literal. I want the viewer to do the work, too.” Isabella Rossellini is the host.

Power and its victims is the theme of this episode, which profiles artists Cai Guo-Qiang, Laylah Ali, Krzysztof Wodiczko and Ida Applebroog. Guo-Qiang, whose materials include gunpowder, talks of “the aesthetic of pain”; Ali, whose round-headed figures appear cartoonish (but are quite serious) is seen working with choreographer Dean Moss; Wodiczko's video projections honor victims of violence; and Applebroog explores “how power works” in paintings, drawings and sculptures.

Humor is the theme grouping the four artists profiled here. Among them: Eleanor Antin, who finds room for a wink or two in her social commentary; Raymond Pettibon, whose comic-book art is for adults only; Elizabeth Murray, whose paintings are vibrant and zany; and Walton Ford, whose watercolors unite the natural and political worlds. Comedian Margaret Cho hosts.

Time is the theme grouping the four artists profiled here. Among them: Martin Puryear, who's known for his large installations; Paul Pfeiffer, whose installations and video projects play off pop culture and sports; Vija Celmins, who specializes in natural forms; and Tim Hawkinson, whose installations have been as big as a football field. Choreographer Merce Cunningham hosts.

Part 2 (of four) connects photographer Collier Schorr, and multimedia artists Gabriel Orozco and Janine Antoni with the theme of loss and desire. Schorr describes her pictures of high-school wrestlers and the teenage boys in a German family (who pose dressed as soldiers). The objects Orozco has worked with include ping-pong tables and a Citroen, while Antoni works with such things as soap, chocolate and her own body. Jane Alexander introduces the film.

Kara Walker, Kiki Smith, Do-Ho Suh and Trenton Doyle Hancock. Walker explores her African-American heritage in silhouettes that are at once genteel and macabre. Smith, a sculptor, often deals with death. “We were like the Addams family,” she says of her childhood. So-Ho Suh, a native of Korea, is concerned with space, individual and collective. One project is a “house” he made of transportable fabric. “I want to carry my home with me all the time---just like a snail,” he says. And painter Trenton Doyle Hancock looks to combine “comic-book narratives with the history of abstraction” in his mythical creatures. Filmmaker John Waters introduces the film.

Artists explore consumption by addresssing common misunderstandings about mass media, commerce, and consumer society.

Artists explore the idea of identity by questioning common assumptions about stereotypes, portaiture, self-awareness and what it is to be an artist.

The opener considers the concepts of place and spirituality. Places are the jumping-off points of my imagination, says performance artist Laurie Anderson, who introduces the first hour. Spirituality is the thread that connects us all, says actress S. Epatha Merkerson, who introduces the second. Among the artists profiled: sculptor Richard Serra, renowned for his steel-plate installations; photographer Sally Mann, whose nude pictures of her children turned heads; and James Turrell, who works with light. He designs his projects, he says,to bring the cosmos closer.

The opener considers the concepts of place and spirituality. Places are the jumping-off points of my imagination, says performance artist Laurie Anderson, who introduces the first hour. Spirituality is the thread that connects us all, says actress S. Epatha Merkerson, who introduces the second. Among the artists profiled: sculptor Richard Serra, renowned for his steel-plate installations; photographer Sally Mann, whose nude pictures of her children turned heads; and James Turrell, who works with light. He designs his projects, he says,to bring the cosmos closer.