Sculptor Olav Orud chosen to create statue of King Olav

The City of Oslo today announced that the sculptor Olav Orud has won the competion for a monument to King Olav V. The monument will be placed near the City Hall and is expected to be unveiled in the spring or summer of 2011.
In January twenty years will have passed since the death of King Olav. The process leading to a monument has been a long and difficult one, with the first competion failing to produce a winner. The task was then given to Knut Steen, who had nearly completed his monument when public outcry led to it being scrapped.
Orud’s projected statue does not look very original, but I guess a statue of a much-loved monarch still remembered by most people will have to be rather conventional and that there is no place for avant garde art in such contexts.
Information from the City Council’s website: http://www.bystyret.oslo.kommune.no/article161962-5096.html
A photo of the projected statue may be seen in Dagbladet. Orud’s project is to the right, while the left photo shows the statue Knut Steen made and which ended up in remote Skjerjehamn on the west coast. http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/04/13/nyheter/innenriks/statue/11259961/