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Sweet architectural sculptures made from stacked chewing gum sticks by Sam Kaplan

In his latest series Unwrapped, New York photographer Sam Kaplan purchased hundreds of packs of colourful chewing gum to build neatly stacked, architectural sculptures, ready to be snapped.

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Architectural sculpture with a peaked pyramid form made from stacked red and blue chewing gum sticks, photographed against a black background

With no post-editing or use of any software, it's difficult to imagine that these raw, still-life shots were captured without any additional help. Instead, Sam painstakingly constructed each food sculpture – using either red, yellow, green or white chewing gum sticks – creating stunning, often geometric shapes and patterns that mimic tower blocks, pyramids, architectural features such as archways, and even an entire Emerald City.

Kaplan originally wanted to find a way to manipulate a material into a 3D pattern, rather than photographing chewing gum. He explains: "I wanted to find a material that could be both repeatable and remain uniform. I also wanted a high level of malleability and after a lot of trial and error I landed on gum. I have always been interested in futurist and Mayan architecture, and this project was a way to combine both of those to make new forms."

You can discover more incredible formations at www.samkaplan.com or check out his Instagram feed.

Via Colossal | All images courtesy of Sam Kaplan

Bright blue and yellow neon-lit stacked chewing gum sticks arranged in geometric architectural forms with sharp angular edges against a black background
Green chewing gum sticks stacked to form an architectural sculpture with towering vertical sections and a central chevron pattern, against a black background
White stacked chewing gum sticks formed into a solid geometric cube by Sam Kaplan
Red chewing gum sticks stacked in a diagonal geometric pattern casting distinct shadows against a black background
Two pale green archway structures made from stacked chewing gum sticks arranged in radiating patterns against a black background
Stacked red chewing gum sticks arranged into an abstract geometric sculpture with angular, interlocking forms casting shadows on a textured pink surface
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