Ambrosia at COOPER COLE, Toronto

In the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie, Cooper Cole is delighted to host Vancouver-based gallery Unit 17, who will organize an exhibition in our west gallery space. This initiative seeks to challenge conventional models, share resources, and cultivate a sense of community, ultimately working toward a more supportive and dynamic environment for experimental art exhibitions to thrive across geographies.

Unit 17 is pleased to present Ambrosia, a group exhibition with never before seen, as well as recent, artworks by Ella Gonzales, Marlon Kroll, and Garrett Lockhart.

This exhibition emerges from the shared network between these artists, rooted in their ongoing dialogue across Toronto and Montreal. Over the years, they have written press releases for one another and exhibited together in various contexts—including the forthcoming exhibition Dear atmosphere at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (Bowmanville, Ontario), on view from September 20 to December 7, 2025, and curated by Danica Pinteric. Foregrounding friendship and social connection, the exhibition highlights an ongoing interplay between sculptural language and spatial inquiry.

Additional contributions by gallery artists Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, geetha thurairajah, and Douglas Watt will be on view for the duration of Unit 17’s exhibition at Cooper Cole in the gallery’s office.

Ella Gonzales (b. 1994, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a Filipina-Canadian artist working between painting and computer-aided design programs. Her work explores the intersection of digital and material processes. Recent exhibitions include Mercer Union (Toronto), grunt gallery (Vancouver), The Power Plant (Toronto), Unit 17 (Vancouver), Galerie Nicolas Robert (Toronto), and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge).

Gonzales holds a BFA from Western University and an MFA from the University of Guelph. Ella Gonzales currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

Marlon Kroll (b. 1992, Hamburg, Germany) is interested in perception, infinity, and the supernatural. The child of a psychic and a musician, his work articulates questions around embodiment, the nature of reality, and the construction of truth. Recent solo and institutional exhibitions include Cold Open, Unit 17, Vancouver; Lullaby, Management, New York; Majestic Infinite Inner Choir, 12.26, Los Angeles, 2024; Fireflies, Eli Kerr, Montreal; Revelation, Fondrie Darling, Montreal, 2023; Receiver, Acapella, Naples, Italy; Nesting, Foundation Phi, Montreal, 2022; A Chronique Fear, Marvin Gardens, Queens, New York, 2021; Rifts, hovels, a sighing tide, Afternoon Projects, Vancouver, 2021; La Machine Qui Enseignait Des Airs Aux Oiseaux, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montreal, 2020; Red Sky at Morning, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, New York, 2019; Sunrise It Crystallize, Parisian Laundry/Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal, 2019.

Kroll was awarded the William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists in 2020. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including Medcan, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Montreal, CDPQ Collection, Fidelity Investments Collection, and Foundation Giverny Collection. Marlon Kroll currently lives and works in Montreal, Canada.

Garrett Lockhart (b. 1994, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada) draws connections between the home, the body, and the heart. Recent solo exhibitions include Shine at Pangée (Montreal, CA), The World Awake at South Parade (London, UK), Wrinkle at Hunt Gallery (Toronto, CA), Relay at Pumice Raft (Toronto, CA) and Wrought Bundle at Afternoon Projects (Vancouver, CA). Recent two person and group exhibitions include The Patron Saint of Beekeepers at puntWG (Amsterdam, NL), To pluck eternity along the lines of circadian rhythm at Susan Hobbs (Toronto, CA), a little, left over at Weatherproof (Chicago, USA), Doing Time at South Parade (London, UK), Dawn Draws, Dusk Drops at Joys (Toronto, CA), A word for underfoot; the sun at Hunt Gallery (Toronto, CA), and Poem Objects at April April (Brooklyn, USA). Garrett Lockhart currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.