Vasily Zasipkin graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1917 he was drafted into the army and sent to Vladivostok, where he designed stage sets for the military theatre, the cabaret Bi Ba Bo and other venues. From there, he moved to Harbin and opened an art studio on Kitaiskaya Street. In 1920, he received an official commission from the Japanese government to paint a series of landscapes of Kamchatka and Manchuria. He organised an art studio, which had 52 students by the time of his departure from Harbin.

In 1929, the artist moved to Shanghai and opened V. A. Zasipkin's Art Studio. In 1934, he moved the studio to Joffre Arcade in the French Concession, where many Russian stores and offices were located. Zasipkin thrived as a portrait artist: he created dozens of portraits of Shanghai's foreign elite, diplomats and municipal administrators. His oils and pastels were frequently seen at local exhibitions, although some newspaper critics condemned his works as "old stereotyped canvases," showing "meticulous study and sound technique," but "lacking virility and imagination" and infused with a "commercial, almost illustrative atmosphere."

Zasipkin was an active member of the Ponedelink society, and his studies and illustrations were used in the inaugural issue of the eponymous magazine. Among the Russians, he was considered one of the best professionals, alongside Mikhail Kichigin and Victor Podgoursky. Both Vladimir Tretchikoff and Alexander Yaron were his students. Working alongside his Russian colleagues, Zasipkin contibuted twelve paintings of the Apostles under the dome of St. Nicholas Church, on Rue Corneille.

In Zasipkin’s opinion, “the art of painting, as a science, not a pleasant diversion, is based on the same mathematics of knowledge as architecture, sculpture, music, etc.” His attention to detail and love of precision allowed him to get commissions in the architectural realm. Among his Shanghai works he counted the interior design of the Grand Theatre and Park Hotel, as well as a number of interiors for private homes and public buildings. He did architectural drawings of the buildings designed by L. E. Hudec, Shanghai’s preeminent architect. He also worked on advertising campaigns and designed stage sets for the productions of the Russian Light Opera, such as Lysistrata and the Dream of Wei Lien, staged at the Lyceum Theatre.

Zasipkin’s sojourn in Shanghai was cut short by the Sino-Japanese War. As soon as he transferred his studio from the French Concession to the port area of Wayside, the Japanese air raids on the Chinese municipality, in August 1937, destroyed the studio and most of the artist’s work. In October that year, Zasipkin relocated to Singapore, where he opened the Apollo School of Art, at Amber Mansions on Orchard Road. He started offering classes in painting, modelling, drawing and sculpture for beginners and advanced students.

Zasipkin’s arrival in Singapore filled the cultural gap felt at the time by the foreign community. In November 1937, he helped revive the long-obsolete Art Club, and it began to conduct meetings on Wednesdays, with life drawing sessions and lectures from visiting artists. Equally popular were the weekly "Zasipkin’s Russian Parties," with abundant pelmeni (meat dumplings), borscht and vodka. The artist's most important project in Singapore was the interior design of the Cathay Cinema café and roof garden, which opened in December 1939, after two years of construction. Zasipkin's design was praised for its simplicity and artistry. Around 1938, he, reportedly, received a commission for a cinema complex in Malacca.

Zasipkin died of heart failure, at the age of 55, while teaching a class. He was buried at the Bidadari Cemetery. Zasipkin's Art Studio was taken over by his colleague Vadim Shilonosoff, also from Shanghai; the meetings of the Art Club also continued.