The Life Savers that are candy and the ones that float on water both seem godparents of John Monti's new sculptures, which have the gleaming, citrus-colored surfaces and the clean, round, smooth-sucked shapes of slow-savored candies, and look buoyant and sturdy enough to save the life of any storm-tossed soul.  A fair amount of lip service has been paid in the past few seasons to visual pleasure as art's most pressing concern. But to see works as irrepressibly gleeful as Monti's - they look as if they would soar into the atmostphere if they weren't stuck to the walls - is to recognize how many artists merely illustrate a commercialized nostalgia for good times.

By contrast, Monti's new work is decidedly in and of the material present. For one thing, it is made of a variety of up-to-the-minute synthetics - fiberglass, resin and rubber - with surfaces that range from high gloss to a slightly pebbled gleam to rubbery translucence. It is this last that characterizes the slender ring bordering each of theses symmetrical, wall-mounted sculptures, seeming (it's an illusion only) to suction them to the wall like a rubber dart.  Six of the works on view, which the artist calls "Rondos," are composed of 2-foot-diameter raised rings surrounding small circular depressions.  The rest - the "Rondos-Grandes" (these are 49 inches in diameter) - have rings around big, convex centers.  All the Rondos are two-toned, the color pairing including orange and crimson, Nile green and bright yellow, aqua and dark blue.

There are at least two sculptures that openly evoke body parts: Jelly Smily: Red  suggests the wax clown lips sold at novelty shops, and Innie: Pale Buff resembles an oversized, android-perfect belly button.