Artist Ivan Wong created a billboard that pays homage to Superstorm Sandy. The artwork contains vinyl letters creating the word monster in Japanese that responds to the changing light.

Monster was unveiled in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of Sandy October 29, although that ended up being a coincidence.

"I finished on the anniversary of Sandy, it wasn't really planned that way, but I finished it right on that date," Wong said.

The painting took about 6 months of planning about two and a half months of actual painting - all of which was done on site.

Growing up, Wong was fascinated by Japanese cinema and science fiction.

The Japanese word on the painting is in part for the devastation caused by the storm as well as for Godzilla.

"The reason the word monster is in there in clear vinyl is you can't really reference  Godzilla so we came up with the name Gojira, which actually means monster, not Godzilla but it's sort of the same thing," Wong said.

Change is a theme in the painting as the painting is in a constant state of transformation and responds to the changing light.

"At night when the lights hit it, it actually reflects and out of the darkness you see what actually says the word monster," Wong said.

Wong, a New York City based artist and visitor to our community said he didn't start out with a plan to do a painting about the Jersey Shore.

He was also a little hesitant at first to construct the art because he wasn't sure if people wanted a symbol to remember the tragic event.

Ultimately, he felt the painting would symbolize the event and become a beacon of hope for Jersey Shore residents who are resilient and overcame some of the challenges following the devastating storm on October 29, 2012.

The painting by Ivan Wong will be on display through the summer and is located at 1207 Ocean Avenue on the beach in Mantoloking - where the ocean breached during Sandy in 2012.

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