Cuban Hand Painted Pottery Plate

Trying to ID the artist. Also, what’s the subject about?
Thanks

 

I'm far from an art expert, but I believe the artist was attempting to paint in the Cubist style. It has a native/tribal look to it, from a Cubist POV.

 

Cuba-Cubist

 

I thought about the similarities between the name of the style and Cuba LOL

 

Cuba-ist?

 

Not sure where you sell, but anything Cuba (like my set of cocktail napkins) is prohibited on eBay. Of course you may already know that and if so I apologize for poking in!

 

No idea that Cuba was prohibited on Ebay. Let me see first if I can ID the artist and the symbolism of the image and then I’ll see what to do with it. I doubt it’s an expensive piece so I can just keep it.

 

It is prohibited to sell embargoed goods from Cuba on eBay but I'd assume that means items bought and imported directly from Cuba. There are many, many items from Cuba listed on eBay, including ceramics.

Debora

 

I've sold vintage pre-Revolution Cuban souvenirs before. No problem with those.

 

And that is what I was listing - a total of 6 items were pulled (including a wonderful set of cutwork and embroidered cocktail napkins which I eventually sold elsewhere for $75). When I called to appeal the putz on the other end of the phone insisted that ALL items originating in an embargoed country are prohibited. And recently someone started a post on an eBay board because an empty cigar box that originally came from Cuba was pulled and they were sanctioned. I think it is like everything else - inconsistent and selective.

 

Weird. They claim to ban items from Cuba, yet they're being sold openly. Paper goods from pre-1959 Cuba appear to be OK across the board.

 

Gorgeous plate, kard. Signature T. Chollo?

A Surrealist crabman?

And on any American venue. Just like items from Iran, Myanmar (Burma) and a few other countries.
Even if items have been in the West for over a century, they are apparently tainted by their origin. Burmese rubies in 19th century jewellery are a nono. (We just call them the best quality rubies from the days of the British Empire.) Iranian items from the period of the US' very good friend Mohammed Reza Pahlavi are banned.
Yes, items from banned countries are sold on ebay and other venues of American origin, and apparently people get away with it. But when we list something from any of those countries on Etsy they are all over us. They even removed a listing for an Afghan Kuchi necklace because we mentioned in the description that the Kuchi are a nomadic people of Iranian origin.

 

Do these look like African masks?
I did not know that Afro-Cuban art was a serious movement in the region.
I’m still playing with the name. The last two symbols look a bit like 16, for the year 2016 maybe? Although, the plate looks a bit older than that.

 

I don't see any African masks, but maybe someone else does.

They look like llo to me.

 

All of this reminds me of my recent encounter with attempting to import something from Europe into the USA (one of the reasons I went to Germany last spring). If I can locate the letters that detail my frustration I will either start a new thread or post them on my forum.

 

I see the last part of the sig as numbers so maybe a date, 16, so something like Zaco 16 (can't really make out much really).

 

I see a bit of Picasso in the style or at least some surrealism elements that other artists had used. The face images do look to me like tribal masks? maybe not African but other.