Although his works depict still life subjects, Sultan describes them as abstract. The size of his compositions, huge pieces of fruit, flowers, dominoes, and other objects, set against the stark, unsettling tar-black backgrounds, dominate the viewer. Sultan incorporates basic geometric and organic forms with a formal purity that is both subtle and monumental. His images are weighty, with equal emphasis on both negative and positive areas. The use of over-printing and flocking creates the unique, signature textures his prints are known for. Black and Blues utilizes a black silica ground, sometimes referred to as lava dust, acts in a similar fashion to diamond dust, giving a slight shimmer light refracts off the work. The silkscreen poppies and rich ultramarine blue centres maintain Sultan's signature post-minimalist concerns of the picture plane and how to develop pictorial depth.

Sultan's work is held in the permanent collections of MoMA, New York; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the the LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris; among others.