US News

ART FOR THE MASSES

He can take your call now.

The city’s latest public art installation is a pair of colorful and cheeky prayer booths perched near the entrance to the Roosevelt Island tram in Midtown – replete with a “prayer” sign and an icon of folded hands dangling over the metal and blue-vinyl structures.

If the fancy strikes, the pious can flip down a kneeling pad.

The city Department of Parks and Recreation public artwork – which went up in September and will remain through this month – has gotten people talking, if not always to the Almighty, then at least to each other.

The artist behind the booths, Dylan Mortimer, a graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, said his purpose is serious, and just a little sly.

“This is a way to talk about prayer in the public sphere – but with a bit of humor,” said Mortimer, 28, of Kansas City.