Born in Newmarket, Suffolk, Alan Reynolds left school at the age of fourteen. During the war years he served with the Suffolk Regiment and the Highland Light Infantry in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. After demobilisation in 1947 he studied art at the Woolwich Polytechnic, 1948-52.
His first solo exhibition was held at the Redfern Gallery, 1952. He continued his studies at the Rpyal College of Art, 1952-3. The artists then exhibited regularly at the Redfern Gallery and also in New York, Rome and Paris. His early work displayed careful attention to nature which in his paintings often became transformed into an eerie world of stylised, semi-abstract shapes. Even here much emphasis was placed on the horizontal and vertical forms. In 1958, he became dissatisfied with this style of painting and moved into pure abstraction, using simple geometric forms which reflected his admiration for equilibrium in abstract terms. In recent years he has exhibited regularly with the Annely Juda Gallery in London.