In the late 1980s/early 1990s Goss was a member of a Los Angeles-based collective of artists who created performance components for various ACT UP demonstrations and HIV/AIDS awareness events in Los Angeles, Ohio and Chicago. The collective changed names for each event and was variously known as Bad Seed, The Altared Boys , Stiff Sheets and Fags in Flags. In 1992 he produced a documentary and music video on AIDs/HIV educational efforts in Bangkok, Thailand. In 1994, Goss and partners opened Southeast Asia's first gay and lesbian center, Utopia, in Bangkok. In 1995 he created the online Utopia, the Internet's first Asian gay and lesbian resource portal.
Later career
His photographs appeared in the landmark pop cultural book, Very Thai ; and he has authored ten guidebook titles about the Asian region. In the summer of 2007 he worked in Hollywood as Production Designer, Art Director, and Director of Concept Design for the motion picture . He also did digital animation and 2nd unit direction for the film. In 2010, Goss moved to Palm Springs, California where he opened a home studio/gallery, Swank Modern Design. Swank Modern's inaugural exhibition, The Sensual World, featured photographs by Goss shot in Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Beginning is 2014, he published 18 large format portfolios of his photography from the preceding two decades: Observatory ; Desert Modern ; Find China ; Mykonos ; I, Japan ; Thai Love Song ; Wonder Walls ; India: At First Sight ; Tropical Regard II ; Sri Lanka ; My Penang ; Offerings ; Black Album ; Singapore ; Blossom World ; Hawaii ; Strange Fruit ; and Full Spectrum. In spring of 2019 he joined, and performs hula with, Kūhai Hālau O Kala'alohiikamakaokalaua'e Pā 'Olapa Kahiko under the guidance of kumu hula Carla Kala'alohiikamakaokalaua'e Culbertson.
Personal life
In Sep, 2013, Goss married Amarin Ratanarat, his longtime partner since 1996. In Feb, 2020, Goss confirmed his biological father, Grant Mitchell Salzman, through DNA testing.
'Irony and Dissembling: Queer Tactics for Experimental Documentary' by Kathleen McHugh, Between the Sheets, in the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, and Gay Documentary, 1997
'The Sissy Boy, the Fat Ladies and the Dykes' by Alexander Doty, Camera Obscura, number 25-26, page 125
'Wild Life: Collaborative Process and Gay Identity' by Gabriel Gomez, Jump Cut, number 37, pages 82–87
'Entropy, History, Space and Speeding Cars' by Erika Suderburg, Los Angeles, Editions Autrement, Paris, 1993
'Life in the Media World' by Greg Schneider, Artweek, Volume 22, number 17, May 2, 1991, page 17
'Youthful Persuasions: John Goss Speaks Out' by Gabriel Gomez, Afterimage. Nov 1990, page 9
'John Goss: Forbidden Planet' by Lance Carlson, High Performance, Summer 1990, page 61
'Performance Art as Political Activism' by Lance Carlson, Artweek Focus, May 3, 1990, page 23
'Sex and Technology' by Jacki Apple, Artweek, Mar 15, 1990, page 17
'Virtual Art, Virtual Fun' by Jan Breslauer, LA Weekly, Jul 21-Jul 27, 1989, page 39
'Funhouse Explores Mortal Passageways' by Zan Dubin, Los Angeles Times, Calendar, Sun, July 9, 1989
'John Goss/John Greyson' by Jamitre Trott, New Art Examiner, Dec, 1987.
