Daniel Adel’s paintings have spanned the range from traditional still life and portraiture to his most recent hyperrealist abstractions. His Folds series depicts wrapped objects or simple fragments of crushed paper with allegorical echoes of sacred art. Hyperabstraction, which Adel developed in recent years in his Provençal studio is an entirely new approach to painting which evolved out of his dual training and experience in both the purely figurative, academic tradition and also in the conceptual intricacies of contemporary art. Inspired by the structure of contrapuntal music, Adel's innovation is to employ techniques used in Renaissance painting to transform familiar brushstrokes and splatters into novel, sculptural forms presented in light and shade. His endeavor to create "Visible Music" features the expressive velocity and intensity of abstract painting merged with the mastery of painting three-dimensional form which he has developed over the course of four decades of realist studio practice.
Several of Adel’s paintings were featured in the Lincoln Center production of Ten Unknowns starring Donald Sutherland. His portrait of Frank Langella as Clare Quilty appeared in Adrian Lyne's film, Lolita. His artwork was featured on the cover of the Newsweek issue announcing the release of Star Wars Episode 1. His portrait of President George W. Bush appeared on the Person of the Year cover of TIME magazine.

Adel’s work is held in public and private collections in Germany, México, Peru, Saudi Arabia, England, the United States, France, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg. Among these are The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC., Starland Museum, Beijing, The New York Stock Exchange, New York City Hall, The New York State Court of Appeals, Princeton University, Yale University, Dartmouth College and Union Pacific Railroad. Private collections include Pierre Cardin, Graydon Carter, Whoopi Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch and Ken Fulk.