His projects often contain both animation and physical works in conversation with each other, weaving together hand-made processes with code and computer generated imagery, wielding each with equal virtuosity. The physical works crystallize time and motion—attributes central to the nature of animation—in material form.

Recently, Frankel’s large-scale four channel video Within the crowd there is a quality was presented at the Moynihan Train Hall in New York City, in a program including works by Derrick Adams, Shahzia Sikander and William Kentridge.

In the New York Times, Laura van Straaten called this work "A kinetic cloud of humanity” and “deliberately subtle."

In conjunction, HESSE FLATOW in New York City presented a solo exhibition of paintings, sculpture and video from the same body of work.

Frankel’s most ambitious work to date is A Marvelous Order (2022)—an opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs with multi-channel animation throughout. Frankel conceived the opera in collaboration with composer Judd Greenstein and former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

In her review, Wall Street Journal opera critic and historian Heidi Waleson praised the work’s “thoughtful depiction of the conflict and its unusually imaginative multimedia form”, and called the animation “stunning”.

A Marvelous Order premiered at the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State—the culmination of a multi-year partnership, including three creative development residencies. A tour is coming soon.

In conjunction with the premiere, the Palmer Museum of Art presented an exhibition of Frankel's cyanotypes, generated during his creative process for A Marvelous Order, titled "Every night we chase our shadows".

Frankel's animated films often engage deeply with music, and have been presented synchronized to live musical performances by chamber ensembles and full orchestra by institutions including BAM, the US Library of Congress, Brooklyn Public Library, the San Diego Symphony, The Whitworth (Manchester), Sinfonia Cymru (Cardiff), PEAK Performances (New Jersey), and New York City's River to River Festival, where his animation took over 50 video advertising screens in the Fulton Center transit hub at rush hour—synchronized to a live performance by a chamber ensemble and 5 vocalists.

Just before the pandemic, Frankel’s experimental film Emergent System (2020), created with composer Missy Mazzoli and choreographer Faye Driscoll, was commissioned by and premiered at PEAK Performances with music performed live on six(!) grand pianos, along with an exhibition, coordinated with the George Segal Gallery, of Frankel’s drawings.

Frankel’s work has also been presented by institutions including the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New Museum, Times Square Arts, Amtrak, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Animation Block Party, EMPAC, Wassaic Project, Vimeo Staff Picks, UN World Urban Forum, and in a shipping container in Berlin.

He has received awards and fellowships from institutions including Sundance, the NEA, the Graham Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Architecture Film Festival of Lund.