Trey Abdella — What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries in December

Trey Abdella’s work attacks the idea of “surface.” In both of the show’s venues, portraits of women have been perforated by small doors, swung open one a day to reveal fragrant hunks of chocolate. An 8-by-6-foot canvas, encrusted with epoxy, foam, glitter and acrylic paint, gives a macro view of a slice of cherry pie — an animated sparkle, displayed on a whirling 3-D “hologram fan,” marks the fork piercing the crust. Thick dioramas show a monstrous sculpted trout breaching a lake’s plastic surface, or a rubber heart throbbing inside a treehouse seen through the slats of a rib cage. Piling gunk onto, cutting through, rejecting the limits of: No picture plane is safe...