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Artist Stephen J. Powers decorating the panels for the Aritza clothing Boutique windows at 524 Broadway in Soho.
Artist Stephen J. Powers decorating the panels for the Aritza clothing Boutique windows at 524 Broadway in Soho. William Farrington
Stephen Powers working on a mural in Soho.
Stephen Powers working on a mural in Soho.Gotham/Getty Images
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A completed mural by Stephen Powers in SoHo.
A completed mural by Stephen Powers in SoHo.Gotham/Getty Images
Workers from RSM maintenance replacing panels stolen form the Aritza clothing Boutique windows.
Workers from RSM maintenance replacing panels stolen form the Aritza clothing Boutique windows.William Farrington
A bicyclist near one of Power's mural.
A bicyclist near one of Power's murals.William Farrington
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So much for charity.

A popular muralist who has gussied up plywood boards on a shuttered Manhattan shop plans to give the works to charity when the store reopens — if thieves don’t pick apart the work first.

Stephen Powers has been painting the planks covering the windows of Aritza clothing’s Soho flagship — canvases he’s selling on his Instagram account to raise money for nearby non-profit God’s Love We Deliver, which delivers meals. He’s raised $20,000 so far selling the plywood, which he’ll ship once lock downs lift and the store can reopen.

But, art rustlers keep swiping the massive panels — forcing Powers to make more, and ironically lowering the value of the stolen works, he said.

“They’re stealing from charity,” Powers, who lives in the West Village, told The Post, adding “It’s bad for the thieves.”

“There’s no point to having a trophy if I just keep banging them out like a Xerox machine,” the 52-year-old said. “The first time they took one panel this time they took four. There’s like 50. They really need to step it up.”

Powers started the mural in April and finished on May 1. By May 2, somebody had taken one of them. Then, sometime Sunday or Monday, somebody stole four more, he said.

The NYPD confirmed that the shop reported the first theft. Cops said they had no record of the most recent theft in their system.

He did have some advice for the art thief or thieves.

“They probably shouldn’t take them to Sotheby’s,” Powers said. “They’re stolen property, it’s not going to work out for them.”

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