A brazen thief waltzed into a swanky art gallery in Chelsea and swiped a statue of a nude man out from under the nose of its owner.
Sabin Howard told The Post he was with customers at his Sabin Howard gallery on West 22nd Street near Eighth Avenue when he saw a man dashing out.
It wasn’t until about three hours later that he realized the 20-inch-tall, bronze-colored plaster statue, which took him 350 hours to create and is worth $2,600, was missing.
“This was worse than having my car stolen. This was very personal because it’s my work,” Howard said.
The thief ripped the statue off its pedestal despite it being glued down.
Howard is hopeful his work, which was stolen at about 5 p.m. on Feb. 2, will show up for sale online.
“I was really upset, but after a few days, I took it as a compliment. People usually steal Gucci bags, not art,” he said.
