For NADA NY 2026, **Hidrante presents Culeybo’s recent series, Imbecilidad orgánica. In Imbecilidad orgánica, Culeybo takes an absurd look at the history of bread and food in general, as well as our relationship with them. Bread appears both as artisanal and mass-produced, and as a universal technology for humanity, through which Culeybo explores the contradictions food presents in contemporary life. Bread’s value shifts with its variety and intentionality, from sliced bread to sourdough, artisanal to mass-produced. Culturally, it is full of meaning as sustenance that we share and break together. Bread has appeared in art history since ancient Egypt and holds many meanings, including religious, spiritual, metaphorical, and allegorical. We break bread with friends. We work to earn our daily bread. The newest invention is considered better than sliced bread. We value ever-increasing speed in life, but also admire the slowness needed for sourdough. The slower process makes bread more artisanal and valued, a counterpoint that Culeybo points to as an inversion of contemporary capitalism’s drive towards Artificial Intelligence, a legacy of Organic Imbecility.

“Imbecilidad orgánica began—and continues to exist—because of my love for crafting dishes and preparing food. I enjoy cooking, especially cooking for friends. The very first thing I learned to cook was scrambled eggs, followed by pancakes and just about anything else related to breakfast—a passion I’ve had since I was seven years old. I was told that a sandwich offered infinite possibilities, and upon discovering my love for both peanut butter and mayonnaise, I set out to create my own "signature sandwich." It consisted of lettuce, tomato, cheese, bologna, alfalfa sprouts, mayonnaise, "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" margarine, and peanut butter. No one ever wanted to share it with me—and now, I wouldn't dream of making one ever again. Later on, I worked at several ice cream parlors, as well as at an Italian restaurant and a Mediterranean one. Nowadays, I cook purely for pleasure. I make pasta carbonara, delicious salads, arroz con pollo, omelets, and lasagna. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll make my own pasta entirely from scratch—whether it’s fettuccine, gnocchi, or something else—and it always turns out delicious. It strikes me now: of all the products and services we currently consume and provide, food preparation—the culinary world—is the only industry that truly venerates a perspective rooted in tradition and a highly labor-intensive production process. This perspective—which isn't necessarily viewed as positive by everyone—remains, at its core, a product and a viewpoint that is readily exploited by capitalism. That said, I love to cook simply because I love to eat, and regardless of how this translates on a commercial level, the general appreciation for food as a consumer product ultimately depends on human labor and love. In my opinion, humanity’s greatest legacy within the culinary world—as a product of almost omnipotent significance—is Bread. In stark contrast to everything today that is being enveloped by Artificial Intelligence (AI), bread remains a product of our Organic Imbecility (OI).” -Culeybo

The work of Culeybo (Sebastián Gutiérrez; b. 1996, Gurabo, PR) focuses on the influence of identity on personal behavior and lust as a protagonist in public settings, operating within the matrix of our relationship between the public and private in both the individual and the material. His subjects primarily stem from personal development, as manifested in everyday interactions with strangers and the intersections between beauty, class, and appearance. Culeybo draws on diverse sources to create pieces that reveal contrasting ideas, learned through the intrinsic friction in his work and the layers that mediate our relationship between the covetable and the loathsome.