I see instruments being used in advertising ads in Magazines (Chrysler
had a kid playing a guitar by a car, Docker Jeans had a woman playing
a ukelele). I do artwork on stringed instruments. They are colorful,
flashy, very visual.  I want to make a business out of these pieces of art.

WHO do I contact or HOW do I go about having them used as background
props in Advertising Ads?

Also, I want to display them in a gallery to sell them (have 30
pieces- all different, cool, unique).  Do I need an Art Promoter or a
specialized Advertising Agent?  HOW do I go about this, who can I
contact?

I live in NJ, close to Manhattan.  Thank you.

dear sir, i will offer a few suggestions... use t hem if you think
they will help...
1st. Consider setting up your own website. Take real nice color
pictures of your pieces and post them on the website. Along with the
pictures, create and include some documents that provide information
about each piece. The key thing here is that the documents should
contain a lot of words that people would use when using a search
engine like Google. Then, when folks search the web for that word,
they will hit your document and find your site. On your website, say
everything that you want the reading public to know. Dont say anything
you dont want them to know. A really good book that you will
appreciate here is CREATING KILLER WEBSITES. This book is a work of
art in itself, and will give you tons of ideas visually. You may have
to hire someone to set up  the webpages for you, but it will be worth
it in order to have web-presence,

2nd. If you really want to sell your pieces, your better off, in my
opinion, placing them in places where people are actually shopping....
music stores, art stores,   antique stores   , furniture stores,  etc.
   Make up some business cards that tell how people can reach you, and
a what it is you do. Put a handful of business cards next to each
piece, so that if a person likes you work but cant buy it at least he
can take a card or two.

3rd. Send out flyers of your work to professional photographers,
printers, publishers, advertising agencies, and graphics design
companies. Explain that you are an artist, that you create art into
musical instrucments, and that you are willing to rent/sell/or lease
these instruments for use in pictures, photographs, setups, and
sittings. You want the flyers to be very high quality so as to best
represent the hi-quality of your work. And you want to send out a LOT
of them - the more the better. In this aspect, its a numbers game.
Again, let the flyers say everything you want to say... but keep in
mind, there is always a customer on the other end who's asking - what
is this about?

4rth - Word of mouth - If people really like your product, and really
think its great, and if you give them fair, honest, positive business
experiences, then word about you will spread by word-of-mouth.

I hope these ideas help..