Jürgen Grosse alias Indiano was born in Oschersleben (East Germany) in 1952. In 1956 he fled with his parents to West Germany. Later he moved to West Berlin and painted on the west side of the Wall. After several trips to Asia, he devoted himself entirely to painting. His picture “Die Geburt des Kachinas” (“The birth of the kachina”) is an appeal to care for the earth and all its people.
Indiano’s Wall painting “Die Geburt des Kachinas” (“The birth of the kachina”) is dominated by the slogans Save our Earth and Get Human. They are surrounded by ghostly beings – floating, grinning, and grimacing yellow faces. On the picture’s edge there is a horned creature that appears to be eating a human. In US Pueblo Indian culture, kachinas are mediators between humans and gods. A red fireball and the yellow figure in the centre of the picture seem to represent the sun and the formidable power it radiates. The painting is an appeal to care for the environment and all the people on the planet.
Grosse started painting messages on the west side of the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. In 1989/90 he painted his work in the East Side Gallery. His main inspiration is indigenous American culture. Since late 1990 he has lived in the French Pyrenees, where he paints large-format triptychs on spiritual themes. For the Gallery’s restoration in 2009, Gallery artist Yvonne Onischke renovated his Wall painting without his consent and he sued the City of Berlin for damages.