L.A. Times art critic David Pagel is tall and has shaggy dark hair. He wears those nerdy-cool glasses and comes across as energetic and a little goofy.

Pagel begins a lot of his sentences with "I'm interested in..." as in: "I'm interested in art that is as complicated as people."

That's just one of the things he said during a seminar he gave at the Holter Museum last weekend on art criticism.

A freelance writer, sometimes curator and professor of art at Claremont Graduate University, Pagel recently co-juried the Holter's latest contemporary collection, ANA 34, along with New York-based artist Polly Apfelbaum.

Both jurors were in town during the exhibition's opening weekend, as were a handful of the artists represented in the show.

The exhibit aspires to "take the pulse" of the national art scene and selections for the annual exhibition are largely based on jurors' tastes from year to year.

"To put it simply, we chose things we liked," said Pagel, back at home in L.A.

So what does Pagel like?

Art that is smarter than he is.

"Art that can't be translated neatly into words -- you don't understand it, but you want to keep trying."

To paraphrase artist Ed Ruscha: "'Huh? Wow!' art, rather than 'Wow! Huh?' art."

For her part, Apfelbaum brought an artist's perspective to the selection process.

"You are looking for things that are intriguing, fresh," said Apfelbaum.

At her suggestion, the duo elected to show several pieces by each artist, rather than the customary two, in order to give viewers a more in-depth look into each artist's work.

Pagel and Apfelbaum say they are pleased with how the exhibition came together.

"It was actually kind of thrilling to see it in person," Pagel said.

"Brandon (Reintjes, Holter curator of exhibitions) and his staff did a fantastic job of installing."

The show itself is a colorful, varied collection of paintings, sculpture and a few photographs.

I asked Pagel about some paintings of bikes by Taliah Lempert.

"They were like, so kind of simple and direct and kind of beautifully and lusciously painted," he said.

Personally, Pagel is particularly fond of Ellen Jantzen's digital images -- "they were so kind of oddly futuristic and old-fashioned all at once" -- as well as Bob Stortz's "dreamy, gorgeous" paintings.

"What he's doing with color I think is really demented-sophisticated. I've never seen beige look so gorgeous."

Pagel believes collections like ANA are a good way to get a sense of the more complex picture of what's happening in the greater art world.

"It's like a slice of life," he said.

In his role as critic, Pagel seems to think of himself as more of a fan and facilitator of discussion than a "gatekeeper to good taste."

"I never think of what I do as the last word on something," he said.

Last Friday, ANA was busy provoking plenty of discussion between a handful of afternoon visitors to the museum.

"Some years I've loved the show and some years I've thought: 'What were they thinking?' -- but that's why it's interesting," said Helenan Noreen Lehfeldt, who was enthusiastically (and proudly) showing some out-of-town guests around the Holter.

This year, apparently, it's the former.

"It's really an amazing show," Lehfeldt said.

ANA will be on display through Oct. 31.