Born to Russian immigrants and raised in rural Texas, Wasserman began living on his own and studying at the Chicago Art Institute by age eighteen. After serving in World War II, he used the GI Bill to continue his art education in New York City and then in Mexico City with the muralist Diego Rivera. From this extensive academic training he crafted his own style, developing traditional subjects through a Modernist lens. By the 1950s he and his wife Barbara had made the Monterey Peninsula their permanent home base. Wasserman joined the Carmel Art Association and became a colorful character on Cannery Row as well as a pivotal figure in the local arts community. Extended annual travels to Europe and North Africa inspired paintings and sculpture drawn from his imagination or borrowed from primitive themes. His exploration of mediums, techniques, and subjects never slowed. In 2007 he was the first living artist to be honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Carmel Art Association.