I have laughed at this little video so many times.  (Summer 2022)

🙏 I've been so fortunate in this life to connect with such amazing human beings, those who are truly living examples of pure compassion, optimism, unity, vibrancy, love, joy. 😍 For the past two weeks, I've been searching for a photo of Gabe that I have tucked in my mind, of back when we met at Laurelhurst Elementary — it's him with buddies Tim Snyder, Pete Bailey, Grant Robart, all with huge smiles. 😁 Alas, that album has escaped me, stashed away in a box somewhere, so instead of early memories I went to our most recent exchange, which was just a couple of months ago on Facebook and much easier to find again. 

 My friend Kelly Smith Cassidy was looking to rehome her Burning Man art project "Infinite Stare" — Gabe envisioned it in "West Oakland on Grand Ave. near where those massive dangling boulders were for years." 👁 Given how close-knit the BM/Source art community can be, I wasn't sure if those two already knew each other, but certainly great playa expressionists should be joined in the same circles. 👫 

 Last summer I had reached out because my sister Marilyn Luk and her husband Russell Means moved to Kapa'a for his work, without really knowing anyone on the islands, so I wanted to try to plug them into the Maui ohana, or find out if anyone from those friends might be living on Kauai now. As I scrolled through our message threads, the most incredible thing about Gabe that I realize is that no matter how distant the physical geography between us, he could make it feel like no time had passed, even if it had been a decade since the last time we were in touch. 

A blink of an eye and Gabe was in the Bay Area, gone and back, but our schedules wouldn't align to get together when I went to visit my family there from time to time. How I wish now I had made more of a concerted effort to meet up with him! I'd meant to introduce him to another kindred spirit Jon Linton, especially when Jon drove through CA with the Let's Be Better Humans bus 🚌 spreading a message of compassion and awareness for the unhoused. Their passion and dedication to care for others are unsurpassed. Yet as Jon tells stories of understanding humanity in black and white, in contrast Gabe was the vivid vibrancy of all color patterns. 🌈 I would have loved to see what sparked inspiration might have been created between them, delivering meals at the intersection of TheCityEats.org and IHaveAName.org. 😎 

🔷 I remember Gabe's excitement about Huedoku, this radical color puzzle app that he was building up to launch in 2014. 🔶 Since hearing the news of Gabe's passing, I've found peace, calm and solace playing it on my phone. 📲 Each game opening an expansion of hues that enhance what my eyes can see — and bringing a smile to my face that it's part of his legacy forever more. Mahalo, Gabe, our lives are all richer for you being in them. 💝 Love, light and blessings. 💖❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💗 🥰

I am so saddened by our loss of Gabe, but am amazed at the bright and exuberant way he lived his life, and will forever be inspired by his enumerable contributions to the world, especially in the form of art. My most poignant memory of Gabe goes back to around 20 years ago, when he held an art showing in SF of his many oil paintings. I attended with a bunch of friends, and the vibe was extraordinary. Every wall had another painting, all with vibrant colors, and even though we were all very young adults, it felt like a pretty "adult thing" to do, to attend this art showing with drinks and hors d'oeuvres and getting to meet people I didn't know, all who had some connection to Gabe. 

Many years later I was blown away by his Color Box art installation, and today I enjoy his Huedoku app. I'm glad I have it to stay connected to him.